Five By Five
by AllUNeedIsFaith
Summary: Faith’s long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? SpikeOC and eventually BA
1. Prologue

Prologue

Hope is what usually comes after Faith. Faith is what someone has when they believe that something is going to happen or that someone exists. Faith is when a person knows for sure, without a doubt, that something is going to happen or that someone exists. Hope occurs when it has dissipated. Hope occurs when someone has lost Faith after being disappointed so many times and proven wrong even more times. Hope is a feeling that someone has when they wish for that something to happen or for that someone to exist. They're not really that sure that it's going to happen or that that someone exists any more but they still hope against hope and wish against wish that it will happen or that they do exist.

In my case Hope did come after Faith. Hope being me and Faith being, well, Faith my only relative still alive. Everyone else has gone to heaven, or hell. It was pretty much my mom who let the whole family down by being the biggest bitch known to man. I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

I'm not saying that if Faith and I knew each other we wouldn't be where we are today. Nah. But we probably would've gotten here a little differently. Just guessing. I mean, knowing you have a twin sister has got to change your life. If only slightly then fine. But it does change it.

I figured the whole thing out. I got the brains and she got the brawn. Well, I've got a little brawn of my own but she's the crazily strong one. I like to think that the beauty is shared fifty-fifty between us. We're both beautiful in our own way. She's the pale sultry temptress and I'm the dark hair, tanned skin, surf girl hottie. She's screaming 'Fuck me' while I'm screaming 'Get into my pants'. Subtle difference if there ever was one.

Anyway, when I found out about my sister I kinda freaked. I mean I did have this vague memory of having a sister and I always felt this connection with someone else that no one else could feel or understand but still. It had been eleven years since I last saw her when my dad told me. Or reminded me. Whatever.

He'd gotten drunk that night. Something that he never was. He was a sad drunk. Words just kept spilling out of him only half of them making any sense. Then he began telling me about all that happened. And he finished with why he didn't tell me. He didn't want to let me go. Then he told me he had cancer. That he'd known for months but could never tell me.

He died a week later.

I was kinda glad that it wasn't vamps or a demon or anything but it didn't make it hurt any less. It hurt more, knowing that I couldn't do anything. That I couldn't save him. That I just had to let him die. I was so depressed that I threw myself into finding Faith. If I hadn't thrown myself into it then I probably would never have found her.

When he was telling me about it he was choking up so bad. And every time he did he'd take another drink. So he got drunker and drunker and quieter but somehow more determined to get it all out.

I mean, I understand the whole reason behind it. Not telling me that is. Kinda. I mean it was still so hard for him, remembering about how he left his wife, my mom, and having to leave Faith behind. Remembering everything about Faith, digging out a photo that had him, me, Faith and my mom all smiling at the camera. Faith and I were both about four years old.

Everyone's happy in the picture but you can tell something's wrong. Dad's wearing a clean singlet and black pants and has a fake smile that looks convincingly real but I know it isn't real, I've known him for ever and I can tell when he's faking it, hurt lies in his eyes. Mom is wearing a sundress with posies on it and is too happy, re: the beer bottle in her hand. Faith is wearing a tomboy outfit, a t-shirt and shorts that are way too big for her. She also has this really huge grin on her face that's almost too big for her face. Across the right side of her face there's a big angry purple bruise.

I touch it on the picture softly and wince. We'd both been victims of mom's aggression, her more than me because I wasn't drawn to mom like she was. It was as if mom was a flame and Faith was a moth. Faith couldn't help but love mom and want to be near her. I was my daddy's girl and, whilst he tried to keep both of us safe, there were some things that he just couldn't keep us from.

As I continue studying the photograph like I have so many times before my gaze moves to my own part of it. I've got my arm around Faith and I'm in a similar get up but not quite as happy as her. I am smiling though. Partly because I haven't been beaten quite as badly as her. My dad's got this comforting hand on my shoulder and that's the main reason I was smiling. It's a grin like Faith's but it's not as wide.

I've got the picture with me now and I vaguely wonder who took the picture. I'm staring down at the worn thing in my hands and notice the rocking of the train subconsciously. I lift my gaze and move it to the window. The landscape rolls by and I get bored quickly. I could never stand trying to be amazed by nature's 'wonders'. Whatever.

All that matters now is finding Faith. And that starts here in Europe.

It starts in Rome.


	2. Chapter 1: Hollywood

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope and most of the plot of Faith's past. I've also borrowed the concept of being able to put Ultra Violet light into bullets from Underworld, Hope being the big guns girl cos she isn't a slayer(or doesn't think she is) but still battles evil. Her weapons provider is based on the vamp weapon guy in Underworld.

Author Notes: Hope is a character based on a less bad girl version of Faith and Selene from Underworld. Might be another character in the mix there somewhere but she's basically original. Also she isn't really like Faith so don't expect to get another Faith. Though I would love that...

Chapter 1: Hollywood

Buffy found herself backed against one of the crypt walls in the cemetery. Six vampires bared their teeth in front of her, two were on top of the wall behind her and there was probably a couple more lurking around somewhere. All she was holding was a crossbow with no arrows. Not really all that helpful. Buffy looked around for something, _anything_. But she was trapped. She dropped the crossbow knowing that that could only slow her down if it didn't have any arrows.

She was annoyed at herself. For once a bunch of vampires were organised enough and had enough numbers to corner her. Buffy had been able to stake three until one of them managed to kick the stake out of her hands. It was probably twenty feet or so away. And for once twenty feet seemed to stretch on forever. Talk about seeing your life flash before your eyes.

Then Buffy heard soft footfalls behind the gang of vampires. Either it was their leader or someone else who was about to try and kill them. It walked with the confidence and stealthiness of a hunter. Someone about to go in for the kill. She looked around at the vamps and saw that they were just about ready to pounce on her. Then she saw a silhouette of the figure behind them. Lean, tall, moving with the gracefulness of an experienced fighter and... The figure was female.

Buffy opened her mouth to warn her but one of the vamps covered it quickly, not wanting Buffy to scare away another meal. Sure it was no slayer but it was a meal nevertheless. The more the merrier. Of course this group of vamps didn't know what was about to hit them.

"Do you guys always go for the blondes? Come on, that is soo Hollywood." The voice that rang out through the night was laced with sarcasm and derision (and it was in English which made Buffy slightly happier). All of the vamp's attention shifted to the girl as she stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the full moon. She had dark hair which was slightly wavy and ran like a river down from her head to just past her shoulders. She was tanned and looked like she belonged on a beach, not here in a cemetery threatening vampires.

She sported a smirk and dark eyes which had this certain mischievousness in them. In a second Buffy thought of Faith, the girl looked like Faith but she didn't. Her actual appearance wasn't like Faith (what with the tanned beach goer look), but her posture, her eyes, her hair and her smirk all rang true. As they turned the girl held a hand to her mouth and did mock innocent little girl,

"Oops, I forgot. You're not guys are you?" The vamps growled and one of them ran towards her. She dropped the mock innocent little girl voice and continued with a half gleeful half ready for action tone and a big grin on her face, "You're vampires."

Then she said in a calm tone to Buffy,

"Keep cool miss. Everything's gonna be fine." She smiled dangerously, "Just fine."

Quicker than lightning she whipped out two guns from under her leather duster on either side, the holsters positioned with the handles at the bottom of her ribs and the muzzles at her hips, and began rapidly firing shots at the vampires. In a second all of the vamps in front of Buffy collapsed into fire sparks and then dust. A millisecond later the two above her turned to fire sparks and then dust.

The girl let the clips slide out of the guns and onto the ground before reloading them quickly with clips that were situated at her waist, ready to be loaded into the guns. She did so with an ease that was so smooth that it astounded Buffy. She always associated guns as being the opposite of smooth. And as not being able to dust vamps.

The girl now stood completely still, all grins and mischievous looks on her face erased. She was in a position that looked like a martial arts position... with guns! She was listening hard to her surroundings and closed her eyes, shutting out all external stimuli but sound. Concentrating on the smallest noise, the snap of a twig, the rustling of a leaf, a footfall. Anything.

Then, she whirled around suddenly, long leather coat billowing behind her and fired once with each gun off into the distance in a deeply shaded area where you wouldn't even be able to see your own nose if you were standing there because it was so dark. The two twin shots that she'd fired were met with two classic 'poof's of a vamp (or two) being dusted.

Buffy walked behind her slowly, caution being the key element, and the girl whirled around, guns first. Buffy looked at the guns in her face and then back at the girl. Something else that this girl and Faith had in common was going into something fists, or guns, first. The girl looked at her like she was seeing her properly for the first time (which she was) and then dropped the weapons and stepped backwards off the curb. She fell from the unexpectedness of there being a curb. She lay on the road and began crawling backwards with such a frightened look in her big dark eyes that Buffy wondered why she was so afraid of her.

"P-P-Please d-don't hurt me." The girl begged and Buffy's eyes widened. This girl who had eradicated nine vamps just a second ago with no problem was scared of her. Even though she was taller than the short blonde and had the bad ass attitude, that Faith had no problem carrying, she was afraid of Buffy. Buffy reached out to give her a hand to help her up and the girl flinched. Now that made Buffy really concerned. It was as if the girl expected Buffy to hit her.

"Do I know you?" It was possible that the girl was a vampire but Buffy doubted it. Why would she be killing other vampires and helping a human? Angel and Spike came to mind as she thought of that and she pushed those thoughts away. She would've sensed if this girl was a vamp. Then again Buffy had no idea when it came to Angel, so caution was still the key element, not matter how much the girl stuttered. The girl did her version of a combination of a wince and a smirk.

"No, but I know you. W-Well, not really but I know enough."

"Enough?" Buffy was seriously puzzled. Call it an attack of dumb (bleached) blonde.

"Do you know Faith?" The girl asked with such innocence in her voice that Buffy would probably refer back to later. Now was time for confusion. Mass and utter confusion.

"Faith?" Buffy's eyes widened slightly at the mention of her fellow slayer's name. How did this strange girl lying on the ground in front of her know her? "How do _you_ know Faith?"

The girl looked up at Buffy with big eyes full of fear and apprehension before mumbling softly into her chest,

"She's my twin sister."

TBC (Hopefully sooner rather than later)


	3. Chapter 2: Nightmares

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I own Hope but I don't own any of the other main characters.

Author Notes: Explanations, Lots o' Talking and Grinning and Fun Fun Fun. So tell me what does this chapter have that others don't? Well maybe betrayal and lust and affairs and stuff like that but for a Buffy fanfic chapter I think it does pretty well. I'm also trying to make this one a decent length to make up for the other one so let me try really hard... Also just as a note, dunno if it is actually possible for Hope to get the nightmares but let's just say that the Faith and Hope bond is strong because they're twins and really really close. And besides, this is the Buffy universe where anything can happen.

Chapter 2: Nightmares

"Twin sister? Faith has a twin sister?" Buffy asked doing that whole big eyed oh-my-god thing with her face.

"Yeah." At Buffy's shocked reaction the girl seemed to relax a bit. At least the attention was off her now. She didn't like getting attention from strangers. Attention meant them remembering you and them remembering you meant that they could ID you later on when the cops finally got there. If you were ID-ed by a witness then that was trouble and you would have to explain what couldn't be explained eg vamps.

"She never said..."

"She probably was told that she didn't for so long that she started believing it. Like I did. We haven't seen each other in over a decade." At this Buffy's mouth went into an 'o' and she went from just plain confused to being interested in the girl lying down in front of her. The girl got up and continued,

"I went to L.A. Talked to some of the cops and they said that she confessed to a murder before escaping from the jail later. This guy, Angel was there with her when she confessed and he was at the trial as well. So I tracked him down..."

"You tracked Angel down?" Buffy said with a slight hope in her voice. Hope's eyes lit up and she seemed to forget her previous fear of the small blonde. She grabbed her gun which she'd dropped before and moved to one of the gravestones and sat cross legged on it adopting a relaxed pose and started her tale. (Think Faith in the Bronze saying the stuff about the nakedness and the priest and the crocodile tale. Also as she's talking she's making the typical 'Faith' gestures.)

"Yeah, turns out he's some big law guy so I manage to get up to his office by dodging and on occasion confronting guards with my fists. So anyway I come bursting into his office and he looks up at me and he freezes. I freeze too cos there's this big wall of weapons behind him. And then this pack of guards come charging through the doors behind me and it takes like five of them to get control of me. So they start carting me out and apologising to the big guy.

"Then when I'm like halfway out the door he unfreezes and gets up and tells them to leave me in the office. They look at him like 'What?' and then they leave and I'm all like 'Haha'. And they're pissed off. But anyway, this big guy sits me down and looks at me. We musta been there for like ten minutes, just sitting there and looking at each other. Then I realise, this guy's a vamp. Anyway so he asks me what I want. I say that I know he knows Faith and I want to know where she is.

"He doesn't respond right away so I whip out my gun and I have it in his face. I'm all like 'I know you're a vampire.' And he's all like 'Then you should know that guns don't kill me.' Then I'm like 'This one will.' Then at that moment another guy comes in and I can tell he's a vamp without even looking at him and I shoot him without even looking away from Angel.

"Angel sees this guy go into flames and his eyes go all wide. When he looks back at me I'm expecting fear but what I see is respect. He says after a moment that I should take a train to Sunnydale and find Buffy Summers because then I would find Faith." Hope gave Buffy a moment to process all of this and then asked,

"Do you know Buffy Summers?" Buffy seemed to snap out of her distant thoughts and looked at Hope.

"Uh, yeah. I kinda am Buffy Summers."

"Oh. Oh you're Buffy!" Hope said in a slightly unbelieving and slightly happy voice. Okay she was a little more than slightly happy. Quite a bit happy but she still had this scared little animal look in her eyes every time Buffy got close. And Buffy noticed it.

"Are you scared of me?"

"Wha? Me scared of you? Nah, of course n..." After a look from Buffy Hope gave in, "Yeah." And just before Buffy could ask why a vamp tackled Hope off of the gravestone and took the two females by surprise. Hope wrestled with the vamp on the ground and before Buffy could get her stake she was straddling the vamp. She took out her gun and put it to his head. His eyes widened,

"Slayer?" He asked and Hope just smirked.

"Nah, I'm something better." Then she pulled the trigger and he cried out as he turned into fire sparks and then to dust.

"Something better?" Buffy asked incredulously. Hope got up and brushed her jacket off.

"Yeah, sorry about that but it's just a great line. Scares the crap out of vamps that there could be something out there that can kill them better than a slayer." Hope slid the gun back into its holster, "Whether it's true or not." Buffy's eyebrow failed to go back down but she remembered the topic they were on before the vamp came charging onto the scene.

"Why are you scared of me?" Buffy asked and Hope hesitated. Then she grimaced and replied,

"A few years ago, I'd say about four or so, I started getting these dreams. Or nightmares really. You were in them. You were always chasing me with this almost robotic like quality. I could never stop you. You always said that you told me you had things to do... And at the end you'd gut me with this scary looking big ass double bladed knife." Buffy's eyes widened. She could guess who she was getting the nightmares from. And she also guessed that it was about the same time as Faith was in a coma. No wonder she'd been so pissed at Buffy when she'd woken up. She always had nightmares about Buffy gutting her with her own knife. Hope continued,

"I mean they stopped like six months later but they still pretty much haunt me."

"They stopped six months later?" Buffy asked, Faith had woken up after six months. It all fit but why did Faith dream that she killed her?

"Yeah. The last one I fell into a grave and you followed me in and then I fought you and I actually defeated you and I crawled out of the grave and it started raining. Then I woke up. And I haven't had that dream since."

"Oh." Was all Buffy could manage to say at that particular point in time.

"Yeah." Hope replied, not really knowing what to say that wouldn't make her seem like a weirdo.

"Cool." Buffy said. Looks like Buffy wanted the job of seeming like a weirdo and was more qualified than Hope. Strange. Hope was the one who usually came in first in that contest.

"Cool?" Hope asked incredulously. I mean these were the nightmares that plagued her for six months so it didn't exactly qualify as cool in her opinion.

"Sorry." Buffy said apologetically, she really hadn't meant to sound the way that she did. It just kinda slipped out before she could stop it or even think about what she was saying and the possible implications.

"No problem just... Cool?" Hope asked again with such an incredulous look on her face and tone in her voice that it would've been funny to anyone observing from outside that neither girl could hear.

"Seemed like the thing to say." Buffy tried to explain. Hope looked at her with a puzzled (and incredulous) expression on her face.

"Okay..."

"Do you want to meet Faith? She's living in the same place as me and the rest of my friends." Buffy asked trying to change the subject off of her putting her foot in it. She was expecting Hope to answer immediately and eagerly but was instead met with silence, an uncomfortable look and shifting of weight from one foot to the other.

"Well..."

"You're nervous aren't you?" Buffy asked, getting what Hope was going through. Kind of. It was like waiting at home for your new sister to arrive except Hope's sister was the same age as her and fully grown. Wondering if you're going to get along with them or even like them in the slightest. Nervous about if your personalities are going to mesh or just collide in one big bang of fireworks.

"Yeah. What's she like?" Hope asked and Buffy smiled slightly, she'd been forgiven for her little slip by Hope. And she was extremely grateful for it.

"She's quite a bit like you. The words dark and likes killing things comes to mind." Hope grinned at Buffy's response.

"She really is like me. Except I don't know about the dark bit."

"You can be dark if you want. I mean you two... Well, when I saw you I thought of Faith but I also saw the differences. You're like similar... But different."

"That makes sense." Hope said with a slight cock of her head and a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Yeah..." Buffy said picking up on the obvious sarcasm but at the same time affability of the sentence and actions. Hope grinned at Buffy and said,

"So, Buffy. Where you camped out?" This time Buffy was the one who grinned and just motioned for Hope to follow her back to the house.

TBC

Reunion's next chapter so move it along peoples. Promise not to leave it for too long. Or not to leave it at all... Either one's good.


	4. Chapter 3: Reunion

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I own Hope but I don't own any of the other main characters.

Author Notes: Reunion is this chapter. Hence the title of the chapter. Reunion. Yeah. Let's see... I don't think there's much to comment on. Explanation of 'Five By Five' shall be done. Hm, going to the share house, meeting people and so on.

Chapter 3: Reunion

Buffy stopped in front of the share house that the gang had rented to make their headquarters for the whole Potentials thing. It was the place that they took them to test them, recorded the details, trained and occasionally gave a home. More than in one instance had a potential been a runaway or homeless girl. So the share house was more of a mansion that had once been grand and expensive. Now it was more run down, used by squatters and came at a bargain per week.

Hope gave the house a once over and thought that it was pretty decent for someone who didn't make money out of the slayer business. She followed Buffy up the stairs and onto the porch. There were a few dead pot plants and chimes and other old paraphernalia around but the thing that drew Hope the most were the two punching bags secured to the ceiling of the porch. Sure they looked like they were about to fall off from the strain they were being put through but they were punching bags and what's more fun than punching bags?

Hope walked inside the house and took a good look around. It wasn't half bad. A new coat of paint, some new plaster and this place would be good as new. But they probably did have to change the floors which looked like they were ready to collapse any second. Now Hope felt like camping outside. It sure beat falling through some weak floor boards. Hope secured her duffel bag and gulped inwardly. There were so many girls walking around and a few were throwing mean looks at her.

"Don't mind them, they just don't know you yet." Buffy said sideways to Hope.

"Right..." Hope said while getting a dirty from a red head with a group of girls around her.

Faith went to meet the two at the entrance and started off the conversation not really noticing Hope.

"Hey B. Tiff wants to know if..." Then she looked at Hope and stopped. Her eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Who's this?" She asked Buffy without looking at her. She stared at Hope but managed to keep her calm somehow. Hope gave her props for that. She knew some people who would freak if they saw their long lost twin sister. But then there was Faith. You could always depend on Faith for silence at all the wrong times and talk at all the wrong times.

"Uh Faith, this is..." Buffy trailed off when Faith cut her off with a hopeful tone in her voice.

"Hope?" She asked and Hope grinned and eased her duffel bag off of her shoulder. She guessed she would be standing here for a bit longer and the strap was wearing into her shoulder.

"How are ya Faith? You five by five?" Faith grinned the exact same grin as Hope only it was bigger.

"Above and beyond girl. Above and beyond." The two sisters stood there grinning like idiots until Xander Harris walked up and broke up the silence but even he wasn't able to stop the grin fest.

"Hey Buff, some of... Woah. I'm like seeing double. But not..." He looked at the two brunettes and blinked a few times before turning to Buffy.

"Did I miss something here? Did everyone except for me get the memo about Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum?"

"Hey, we are not short and fat!" Hope exclaimed at Xander and he turned to her.

"Well hello future Miss USA." Xander said with such a typical crush expression on his face that it just made Faith crack up really hard. Hope just raised an eyebrow at Xander's attempt of a pick up line and said,

"It's great that when you look at me you see a bimbo whose only thoughts are about world peace, fashion and make up." This caused Buffy to follow Faith in the ways of cracking up, after trying so hard to keep it in, and they both were in hysterics practically rolling on the ground as they saw Xander's expression at the come back.

"I'll just be over there then." Xander muttered and walked off. Hope grinned at the two slayers who were desperately trying to pull themselves together.

"So sis. It's been like what, ten years?"

"Eleven." Hope said matter of factly with a slight grin.

"Man where've you been?"

"With Dad." Hope said and both girls lost some of the warmth in their expression and voice.

"Right." Faith said, not able to say anything else. She was remembering what happened before they had been split.

"Right." Hope replied in the exact same way and watched Faith closely.

"Dad." Faith said with a slight sneer in her voice and Hope noticed it.

"Could've come with." Hope said with a slight frown on her face and Faith looked at her and lost all coldness. The knowledge that Hope really cared about her probably did that. And Faith losing her coldness made Hope lose hers.

"Nah. I was still under mom's spell." Faith said offhandedly.

"You're always under someone's spell." Hope smirked at Faith.

"Seems like that eh?" Faith asked rhetorically with a grin on her face.

"Yeah, you know last year this principal..." Buffy started off and Faith cut her off with a particularly fine glare. Hope bit the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing at the showdown that Faith and Buffy were having through looks. Then she couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing. Then she got both of the Looks focused on her and she backed off.

"Sorry." She said with a big grin on her face. Faith grabbed Hope and messed up her hair.

"Hey!" Hope cried out and Faith grinned. She gave the hair a last shake up. Hope ducked from her hand and gave her a look.

"What? You reckon I'd stop just cos we've hit the big two-one? You're still my little sis." Faith said with a smug expression on her face.

"Little sis? I thought you two were..." Buffy began and Hope explained before she finished.

"Twins yeah. But since Faith got born a few minutes before me I'm officially the 'little' one." Buffy couldn't help but smile at this.

"Aw come on sis. Don't be grumpy." Faith said and messed up her hair again. Hope gave her a look and Faith backed off.

"We should all probably get to sleep now." Buffy chimed in and the two twins looked at her confused.

"Giles is giving me the stern parent look cos its midnight." Buffy explained and the twins then looked at Giles who looked sheepish at the sudden attention and walked off not really taking into account the similarities of the two sisters and thinking it was just another potential.

"Aitte lets pack it in for the Brit." Hope said and picked up her duffel bag containing her precious few possessions. Including her many specialised guns for many special occasions.

"You can stay in Faith's room." Buffy said and Faith groaned.

"Am I that bad?" Hope asked incredulously and Faith explained.

"Nah, it's just that you're gonna be the fifth person in a room that isn't big enough for one." Faith said in a slightly whiny tone.

"Hey, five by five yeah?" Hope said and Faith smiled slightly.

"Yeah."

"Well this is a welcome change." Faith smiled in the darkness of the bedroom. Hope could pack sarcasm into a single word like nobody's business, never mind an entire string of words known as a sentence.

"It's not that bad." Faith defended the room unlike what she'd done before.

"You would say that." Hope muttered under her breath even though she knew that Faith could hear her loud and clear.

"You're the one who doesn't mind crowds." Faith retorted.

"Yeah, but you're the one who's used to sleeping with complete strangers." Hope threw back at her and Faith winced. How the hell did she know about that? Well it became apparent that everyone knew, not that Faith tried to hide it, when a giggle erupted in the darkness from an unknown female.

"Thankyou, thankyou I'll be here all night. And the one after that. And the one after that. And the..." Hope said and Faith interrupted her twin at this point.

"Hey little sis you're scaring them."

"Don't listen to her young uns. Truth o' the matter is I am actually the same age as this once criminally insane person."

"You ever going to let that go little sis? Or you always gonna use that in our little slinging matches?"

"Tell you what, I'll let it go when Buffy does."

"So never."

"Pretty much. Cos I know that when Buffy lets it go you won't care about it anymore."

"You mention it again and I'll share that piece of info that is your biggest secret." There was a silence and you could practically hear the other girls' ears straining to hear the next line. It came softly and with a slight tone of defeat laced around the edges,

"Fine."

"That's my girl." Faith said beaming at her victory.

"If you let slip..." Hope warned.

"I won't I promise." This time Faith was serious and Hope knew it.

"Thanks."

"Hey what are big sisters for?" Faith said and Hope growled in the back of her throat.

"Reminding you I'm the one with the guns."

"And I'm the one with the slayer strength."

"Can you dodge a bullet?" Hope asked and she knew the answer already. There was silence and Hope knew that she had won this round and that both twins knew it.

"No." Faith replied barely moving her lips.

"Well then..." Silence then came and Hope shifted on the mattress that was her oh-so-comfortable bed. She was half asleep when Faith called out.

"You know I love you yeah?" Hope groaned at the sentence that woke her up.

"Yeah." There was silence and Hope was just about to get to sleep when...

"You love me right?" Hope groaned louder this time.

"Yeah, I love you Faith." Then, finally, there was a silence that lasted for the rest of the night in the bedroom.

TBC

Tomorrow morning Faith is gonna play typical annoying prankster sister and it's gonna end up with a discovery… So yeah. Read on…. Please…. P


	5. Chapter 4: Morning Runs

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Ok the beginning of this is totally out of character Faith. Sorry! I'm just showing the effects of finding your long lost twin sister. Um beginning is more for my personal entertainment and then the ending goes more for plot. You always have to start really unnaturally happy when you finish dark. That's my rule unless it's all dark…. But anyway. Hope the beginning makes you smile. Hehe. Typical sisterly stuff there. It starts at four in the morning by the way.

Chapter 4: Morning Runs

"Rise and Shine!" Hope groaned and peered through her lashes at the perpertrator that had woken her in the midst of a good dream involving ice cream, chocolate and Chad Michael Murray. Faith (surprise, surprise) was the perpertrator and stood over her twin grinning like a maniac. Hope groaned again louder. Then she tried her luck with the English language.

"Wazamatawichu?" She swatted the air above her and wasn't very surpirised when her random sweep didn't connect with anything of the Faith kind. Faith only widened her grin (if that was even possible at this stage).

"Come on little sis, Tai Chi is starting soon." Faith said grinning at her own private joke.

"Wazyaproblem? Leamelone!" Faith chuckled at her twin's attempt at English. And even more at her attempt of a threat when she was buried in pillows and a doona. Plus Faith knew the girl could barely lift a finger right now. And it was her sacred duty to wake the girl up. Was a hard job but someone had to do it.

"Goway." Hope slurred and then Faith's face lit up as she had a sudden thought and she disappeared from view. This caused Hope's eyes to widen and her to wake up enough to form one single thought.

Uh oh.

Then, all of a sudden, she was dragged off of the mattress and onto the ground with much pain and thumping involved. She was then dragged out of the room bellowing and her last view of it was the rest of the girls waking up sleepily and looking curiously at their disappearing roommate. Then she was dragged to the stairs and as Hope saw them her eyes widened.

"No freaking way." Obviously Faith thought otherwise and dragged her towards them. Just as she was on the brink of the first step Hope grabbed the banister and held on for dear life. By this time all of the potentials, or most of them anyway, had gotten out of bed (most of the most weren't asleep in the first place) and were watching the amusing show unfolding before them.

Hope then got out a mini stun gun from the back of her pants whilst straining to hold onto the banister single handedly. Then she used every single drop of energy she had to bring her legs up to her body, dragging a surprised Faith up to within her arm's reach and buzzed her for less than a second on the hand holding onto her leg.

Faith dropped her so suddenly that Hope crashed down onto the stairs with such a massive thump that it shook the entire house down to it's unstable foundations. This caused some cheers among the potentials, some winces and quite a few 'ooh's.

Fait cradled her hand and shot Hope dirties. Hope returned these with equal force and fervour. Hope looked pointedly at Faith's cradled hand and rolled her eyes.

"Don't be such a baby. It's only as bad as a beesting." Hope stood up and put the stungun back in the back of her leather pants.

"I hate bees." Faith said still cradling her hand.

"I know." Hope said simply and Faith shot her another dirty.

"But that's so unfair. You can't use a stunner." Faith insister but Hope just shrugged it off.

"You used your slayer strength."

"C'mon, that is so unfair." Faith said with a slight whinge in her voice.

"C'mon, that is so unfair." Hope mimicked and Faith pulled a pissed off expression.

"Shutup." Faith muttered and Hope smirked at her.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked as she walked out onto the landing yawning, scratching her head and making other generally tired movements.

"Nothin' boss, we was just havin a bit o' fun is all." Hope said in a southie drawl. She elbowed Faith which caused Faith to jump to attention.

"Yea, just a bit o' fun." Faith agreed and Buffy just looked at the two brunettes and shook her head in disbelief but couldn't help the big smile from developing.

"Alright then, everyone back to bed. It is too early and I need my beauty sleep." There were a few laughs and a 'Damn right' which caused more laughs. Everyone began shuffling back to their respective very much shared rooms before Hope asked,

"Isn't there, like, Tai Chi or something?" At this Faith backed away slowly before sprinting as far away from Hope as possible before Buffyt lose her confused expression and answered her. As Hope sasw Faith run off her stomach dropped and she kenw that Buffy's answer wouldn't be a good one and it definitely wouldn't correspond with Faith's reason for waking her up at 4 in the morning.

"That starts in three hours." Buffy replied with a slightly cocked head and a look of curiosity on her face. Hope felt her expectations and thoughts forfilled. 'Damn, Faith is soo gunna suffer' She thought and her mind wen to the mini stungun in the back of her pants.

"Oh. Musta mixed myself up. My body's all ready for Tai Chi, still got jet lag see? Scuse me while I go off to kill my sister." With that Hope sprinted off in the direction Faith went in leaving the potentials with their dose of morning entertainment and Buffy wondering exactly what had happened before she'd arrived.

Hope turned the corner and saw Faith standing there, stock still. She couldn't see what was in front of her or that there even was anything in front of her.

"You know how terrible you are at Hide and Seek right?" When Faith didn't respond Hope asked, "What? No witty res…" Hope had come close enough to see what Faith could and she stopped in mid sentence, not being able to utter a single word or syllable.

There was a body of one of the potentials sprawled on the ground with a pool of half dried blood surrounding her that had mostly soaked into the red carpet beneath her. Hope's eyes widened as she saw that it was the red head who had given her a dirty when she'd first arrived at the share house.

"Tiff…" Faith said quietly.

"Oh god…" Was the first thing and only thing that Hope could say. Then she turned around and promptly vomited.

TBC

Explanations why Hope reacted so violently… Bonding…. Revealing… Trying to catch the crim… So read on…. And make me happy….Hehe

JB


	6. Chapter 5: Slayer Connection

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Hm, this might be an all dark chapter here. The whole psychic connection Hope has will be explained in a later chapter. Promise! Ends on a very interesting note. PS: To Darklight: Hope was just being sarcastic and messing around when she called Buffy 'boss'. Sorry bout the misunderstanding.

Chapter 5: Slayer Connection

"I don't know why… I mean I have seen a body before. Believe me I've seen more'n my fair share of bodies it's just… This one… Was different." Hope said, stumbling through an attempt of a description of the feelings running through her mind to Buffy who was crouching in front of her with a concerned expression written all over her face.

"It hit you harder than usual…" Buffy summed up and Faith snorted. Faith was leaning on the wall behind Buffy watching the whole exchange and was doing her best to contain herself better than Hope was. Even though she felt exactly the same as her. I mean, this is Faith y'know? The whole hiding of the emotions thing was basically her job.

"Well yeah, didn't you just hear her B?" Faith asked sarcastically and Buffy shot her a look over her shoulder which shut her up pretty much right away. She just kept looking on silently and tried to share some of her strength with Hope through their connection. Hope's eyes flickered towards Faith and Faith knew that she felt some of it. Whether it helped or not.

"It hit you harder than usual and you don't know why?" Buffy continued summing up and Hope nodded her head wordlessly.

"It hit you harder because you knew her. I mean you didn't really know her but you had a connection."

"Plus smell." Faith added from behind Buffy doing the waving her hand in front of her nose at the same time (okay this is really disrespectful, so I'm sorry, but you know how death is always tried to be brought down because it doesn't want to be really felt so yeah. Apologies all round.) Buffy turned to her and was about to tell her off when she saw the look in her eye. It was the same look that she could see in Hope's eyes only slightly better hidden. She just turned back to Hope and was about to speak again when Hope stood up suddenly. Buffy stood up with her.

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked and Hope looked around swiftly.

"I don't..." She then stopped and closed her eyes. Listening.

"Oh god… He… He killed her. She was his… tenth. He's killed others. All over the world. Brazil, Africa, Romania (hehehe, shout out to Romania! I'm like half Romanian so yeah. Back to el story), Britain, California. Tiff was walking around the hallways looking for something and then… She heard something…" Hope moved to a spot just outside of the pool of blood with her eyes still closed. "And she turned… There's nothing there… And then she turns back and…" Hope got slung into the wall by an invisible force and she cried out. Both slayers, which had been frozen to the spot immediately ran to help her but couldn't make it…

"Oh god…" Hope slid down the wall and began to cry. Faith attempted to run to her and made it this time. She gathered her sister into her arms and began to rock her gently.

"S'ok, it's ok, it's ok…" Faith whispered into Hope's dark locks to comfort herself as much as her twin that she was okay. Then all of a sudden Hope moved away with a blank expression on her face. Then she started running down the corridors and the two slayers behind her had to run as fast as they could to keep up with her.

She almost seemed to be flying, she was moving so fast. As she was running she drew a (semi-automatic) Beretta out from her duster (don't ask me how she can run with that thing in there) and turned off the auto safety and pulled back the bolt. She did this without breaking stride and as Buffy saw it her eyes widened, even Faith was ever so slightly surprised. Definite gun girl.

Then she turned the corner and was ready to fire when…

There was no one there. Only a dead body in a pool of blood. It looked so much like the other body that both slayers knew that it was the same murderer who did it.

She was a brunette and her name was Melody. She was the opposite of Tiff and was more of a loner than a popular girl. She was hiding out in the corridors away from everyone in the rotting area of the building that was zoned off to the girls because she liked it when it was quiet and no one else was around. Perhaps she would've been a really good slayer back in the day when there was only one but now there was no chance of her being alone. And that killed her. Well not literally, cos a knife really did but you know what I mean.

Hope walked over to the wall that had a huge blood stain that indicated that she'd been stabbed on ht wall and then slid down it. Hope touched the hole in the wall of where the knife protruded into it after emerging from the other side of her body. Then she knelt down and touched Melody.

"She's still warm." She then stood up and looked around the hallway, "He must've just left when he heard us coming."

"Hope…" Buffy said stepping forward and Hope glared at her.

"What?" She asked harshly and Buffy seemed taken aback, but not for long. She continued in a soft voice.

"What happened? Back there?" Buffy asked and Hope melted under the questions that she seemed to be asking herself as well. She dropped her eye contact and looked at the ground. She shifted her gaze every moment or so but when it became actually a string of proper words that formed a sentence she was able to look at both Buffy and Faith. Mostly Buffy because Faith wasn't interested in the details, more of just if she was okay or not.

"It… I… I don't… There was, like… It was as if... As if I made a connection with all the slayers who have ever been killed, or harmed. Well, mostly killed. Or being… killed… At the moment…" She stepped towards the opposite wall were there were no markings or blemishes. She touched the wall and closed her eyes at the coolness before facing Buffy and Faith again.

"You made a connection?" Buffy asked and she shared a look with Faith. They both knew what if felt like to be connected to another slayer but why did Hope feel it? And why did she feel it stronger than they, or any other slayer, did? But these questions were stored away for later thought. All that mattered was Hope.

"Yeah." Hope said and she noticed the shared look and asked, "What?" Buffy hesitated and Faith picked it up and filled in the silence with a grin and a quip.

"Nothing little sis." She said and got Hope in a head lock. Hope grimaced and wrestled with Faith for a bit. Faith seemed to have this uncanny ability of turning a serious situation into something that seemed light and normal. Buffy couldn't help but smile slightly at the two sisters.

They always seemed so... untouchable when they were together. All they needed was each other and then everything was okay. Hope pried Faith's arm off of her and gave her what started out as a dirty which then turned into a smile. Faith acted innocent backed off showing her palms to her sister and asked,

"What?" Hope brushed off her leather duster and didn't answer her. Then she stopped and held her head and cried out in pain (think Doyle and Cordy getting visions).

"Gnnnh. Oh god. Oh god. Ohgodohgodohgodohgod..."

"I get the feeling God ain't listening right now sis." Faith said but Hope was still clutching her head in pain and turned around to grab onto the wall. She grunted and then kicked the wall so hard that she actually penetrated the wall and got her foot stuck in it. She gritted her teeth and made a cry of pain and fell back onto the ground, in an attempt to free her foot, and writhed there in pain with her foot still stuck in the wall.

Both of the slayers were down on the floor next to her in an instant and Faith tried to stop her writhing. Buffy couldn't do anything but look on with pain written across her face. She couldn't help but think that Hope looked like she was having an epileptic fit.

"Hope. Hope! HOPE!" Faith screamed at her sister getting more desperate by the second and tried to hold Hope down onto the ground so she was no longer shaking and writhing so much but she wasn't strong enough to keep her sister down. Hope's eyes were shut so tightly that it looked like she would be never able to open them again.

Then she stopped writhing.

And her eyes opened.

They were completely white.

TBC

See, told ya it ends on an interesting note! Heh, well I'll update as soon as possible. Next chapter ahs a few speeches in it. Bear me with me k? Also: If you review I'll be happy. Hehe.

JB


	7. Chapter 6: True Love

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Alright in this chapter there's gonna be a section where Buffy is affected by the crazy thingo from the craziness thing in the 'Destiny' episode in 'Angel'. Course it only lasts for like, ten minutes cos Buffy can't be crazy for tooo long. Also there's this whole Faith speech that is unlike Faith yet really sweet. Buffy and Faith connect early on in the chapter which is probably the first time that Faith opens up to Buffy and this is because of Hope so thank her not me. Hehe. Okay let's get this started.

Chapter 6: True Love

A few hours had gone by when Buffy walked back into the bedroom. She shut the door softly behind her in the faces of the overly curious potentials. She walked to Faith who had been sitting by Hope's side on the bed next to her all this time, not moving at all unless someone else was in the room. In that case she was polite enough to stand and be in front of her but still looked over Hope instead of looking at the person, whoever they were.

She did this when she saw Buffy enter and met her at the end of the bed with both of them looking over Hope. Both of them feeling responsible for the catatonic state that Faith's younger twin was in. She was lying there with her eyes open and white and looked horrible but they just couldn't tear their eyes away from Hope who seemed to be in a quietly painful place.

"How is she?" Buffy asked quietly, as if she would be able to disturb her if they were too loud. Neither of them looked away from Hope as they talked to each other and they both understood the need to look over her and that it took precedence over eye contact with each other.

"Same as she was an hour ago. And the hour before that. And the hour before that." Faith replied lacking any emotion in her voice whatsoever. Buffy knew that meant that Faith had withdrawn into herself and she wasn't going to get anything constructive out of her right now. She stayed there for a few more moments before turning to leave but Faith's voice stopped her.

"How did she do it?" Faith asked hoarsely. Buffy turned back around to Faith so that she was standing just behind and a bit to the right of her.

"Do what?" Buffy asked and Faith glanced at her briefly over her shoulder, as if she'd just remembered that Buffy was behind her. She looked back at Hope and she did a soft sort of slight frown at her but not an actual frown, more of a thinking look.

"Get past my defences. Make my walls crumble. Make me feel so..." The last sentence contrasted to the rest, which were soft and sad. The last sentence finished with the gritting of her teeth and clenching of her hands. She looked torn between feeling angry at Hope for doing this to her and feeling extremely worried about her.

"I know." Buffy placed a hand on Faith's shoulder, the first physical contact she'd made with Faith that wasn't threatening, and it actually calmed Faith at least slightly, "It means that you love her. You love your sister Faith It's not such a bad thing." Faith sighed softly and Buffy lifted her hand off of her shoulder.

"I know it's not." Faith said and then sighed even heavier and continued heavily, "It's just... No one's gotten that far since..."

"The mayor?" Buffy asked and Faith snorted at Buffy's assumption.

"He didn't get close. No one's gotten that far since my mom."

"And that brings back bad memories which makes you think that you might get hurt again like last time."

"Wow, check you out B. You've gone all psych student on me." Faith dodged the statement with a grimace and a quip.

"Well I did take a psych class in college. Y'know... A few years ago." Well Faith's dodging worked, Buffy was distracted from her assessment of Faith.

"Heh, the psych student lives on." Faith continued the banter but her heart wasn't really in it. However Buffy was too deep in her own thoughts on the matter that she didn't notice that Faith wasn't doing the usual smirking, wiggling eyebrows and etc. Mainly cos the quipping was there and that's all Buffy needed to quip back.

"I guess Maggie Walsh's classes really went deep." Buffy said and then continued quietly too herself in a worried tone and a matching expression on her face, "Should probably be worrying about that." Then Faith couldn't stand talking about things she didn't give a toss about and cut through the shit.

"Look B, all I know is that my twin sister has been lying there for the past three hours with white eyes and she hasn't blinked once. The only reason we know that she's alive is that she has a pulse and she's breathing." There was silence behind her when she thought there wouldn't be. Maybe Buffy wasn't quite as compassionate as she thought.

"You stupid bitch. You think that you're free. You think that I forgive you, that I've just forgotten. I'll never forgive you. And I'll never forget. You killed people. You took their lives with your hands. Anyone who ever forgives you should die. Starting with your sister..." Faith kept quiet during Buffy's entire rant until she threatened her sister. Then she kicked Buffy without looking at her. She turned and stood over Buffy who was on the ground and facing the floor so Faith couldn't see her face.

"I don't care if you don't forgive me, I don't care that you'll never forget. You have a right B. But never, _never_, threaten my sister. Do you hear me?" Buffy looked up at Faith and Faith stepped back, shocked by the blood that was coming from her eyes.

"New look for you B. The crying tears and all." Faith said with a slight frown on her face and Buffy stood up, not looking like she was at all disabled by the kick Faith gave her earlier. Buffy punched Faith. Hard.

"You're just a murderer. You'll never be anything more. You don't fit in here. We should have kicked you out as soon as you came in. This place is meant to train girls how to be fighters of evil. Not evil. Like you." Buffy punched Faith at regular intervals.

"You didn't answer me before," Faith said in a quiet but firm tone, "Do you hear me?" Faith's face whipped up from Buffy's punch and gave her a dangerous look.

"Oh I hear you murderer but I'm still going to kill your sist..." Faith's fist interrupted Buffy by colliding with her face. She then punched her a few more times. Buffy smirked.

"You think you're so good." Buffy said and punched Faith.

"Oh my mom was terrible, oh I had a terrible childhood, oh I only own leather pants." Buffy kept punching Faith in between phrases and continued before doling out the most powerful head wrenching bone crushing punch yet, "But you're nothing. Just a lost little girl who has no one who cares about her."

Faith was on her knees and she spit out a wad of blood before saying in a low and dangerous tone,

"You're wrong B. There's one person, just one, who cares about me." Faith looked up at Buffy before naming that one person, "Hope."

"Well she can't care if she's dead now can she?" Buffy asked and started towards Hope who was lying on the bed. Faith's eyes flashed and she whipped one of her legs around so that Buffy came crashing to the ground. Faith immediately straddled Buffy and started punching her.

"Don't. Ever. Say. That. Again. Do you hear me?" Buffy didn't respond and Faith continued almost blinded by rage and punched her good and hard.

"Faith?" Buffy asked quietly and Faith stopped immediately, breathing heavily. She noticed that the blood was no longer coming from Buffy's eyes and her own widened. She quickly got off Buffy who lay there with a shocked expression on her face.

"Do you remember...?" Faith started out slowly, about as shocked as Buffy. Buffy looked at her with the beginning of a bruise on her face and the look of shock still present.

"Remember what? You beating me?" She asked in a small voice and Faith's eyes widened even more and she shook her head vehemently.

"No. No. No. You don't understand..." Faith started again and Buffy interrupted once again, trying to figure out everything and put the pieces together in her mind.

"Did you beat me cos I said that I should worry about Maggie Walsh's classes?" Buffy asked incredulously and Faith just looked at her blankly, all vehemence (is that a word?) gone.

"What?" Faith asked with a puzzled expression on her face and Buffy shook her head slowly.

"Guess not..."

"You don't remember saying that I was a murderer and that you'd never forgive me and that you were going to kill Hope?" Faith asked and Buffy just looked at her with a, first blank and then horrified, expression on her face.

"What are you...? What do you...? I never... No." Buffy stumbled through trying to understand what Faith just said before answering her question with a fiery, extremely disbelieving expression on her face saying exactly how much she couldn't believe Faith at the moment because she was able to think that Buffy would ever consider killing Hope. Of course Buffy didn't know that it was actually true so the expression stayed glued on her face.

"Well you did. I mean, I didn't care about you saying that I was a murderer and that you'd never forgive me. You have a right to say that, y'know. But when you threatened Hope... That's why I was bashing you. You said things that were bad yeah, but I don't give. You have a right to say 'em, more'n anyone. But you don't get to threaten my sister. The only reason I didn't kill you is because it's you. You got a kind of 'Get out of Jail Free' card." Faith then said quietly to herself, "Coulda used one of those," Before continuing to Buffy,

"I love my sister so much. How would you feel if someone had threatened Dawn's life?" Buffy just swallowed, showing exactly what she would do by the clenching of her jaw and looking away with fire in her eyes. Faith took this in being able to read the signs of a protective older sister.

"Look B, the love I have for Hope isn't the kinda love that you feel cos you're related and all. Its true love that you feel every second cos your heart is pounding so painfully in your chest. I know that if Hope dies then I will. We have this connection that is so strong. It's, like, ten times stronger that ours. Why did you think I knew it was Hope after not seeing her for ages? Not cos she looks 'similar yet different'. Cos I felt the connection. I knew that this was the person whose feelings I felt, who felt mine. The one and only person I've ever truly loved who's loved me back in the same way. This goes beyond giving our lives for each other. This goes beyond anything that can be done or said. This is true love."

Buffy just looked at Faith completely taken aback. In addition to the fact that this was probably the longest lot of sentences given in one clump that she'd ever hear Faith say, all of it was completely heartfelt. Faith stood at the foot of the bed and looked at Hope once again. Buffy joined her after a second.

"What did Giles say?" Buffy asked referring to Giles' visit earlier to assess the situation and try and help Hope. She looked at Faith while she asked the question, not wanting to look at Hope from the guilt that she'd threatened, and attempted, to take her life just a few minutes earlier. But apparently Faith wasn't holding her responsible for it and talked to her normally while still looking at Hope.

"'Oh dear god. We need Willow.' Well... A bit more 'Oh dear god's." Faith glanced at Buffy during the last sentence and they shared small smiles at the expense of the British man. Of course her gaze returned to Hope almost immediately after their little 'moment'.

"He left for Brazil?" Buffy asked and Faith nodded,

"Yeah, like fifteen minutes ago." Buffy then nodded herself and shifted her gaze to Hope.

"Red'll help her right?" Faith asked, shifting her gaze to Buffy, who answered after a second with so much conviction that she made both of them believe that it was true. Buffy's eyes didn't leave Hope and Faith's didn't leave Buffy as she answered.

"She'll save her."

TBC

Well that's a nice thing to end on especially with Buffy going all crazy in the middle. I just had to have Faith letting go of everything that she's tried to hard to keep in after crazy Buffy pushes just the right button... And keeps pushing it. But everything's cool between the two slayers. Faith's forgiven Buffy and Buffy has taken this down and is very close to completely, both sub consciously and consciously, forgiving Faith. Okay, I'll stop ranting now.

JB


	8. Chapter 7: Land Of The Lost

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Willow's back! Hehe. And Kennedy's back too. And I'm bringing Dawn in, in this chapter! So let us celebrate! Unfortunately Xander actually went back to Africa after the incident in the third chapter (not cos of the incident itself but because that was probably just a short visit). Sorry Xander fans! Also: Some stuff is discovered by Willow when helping Hope. And just informing all you people out there when I refer to the girls as potentials it's really that they're slayers. Just a thing with calling Buffy and Faith slayers cos then you get it better. You know, just to distinguish between the two groups of girls.

Chapter 7: Land Of The Lost

"Will!" Buffy greeted Willow with a wide grin and open arms. Willow grinned back and hugged Buffy. Faith was standing behind Buffy and waved, with less energy than usual, to Kennedy who was standing behind Willow. Kennedy returned the wave with the same amount of vigour.

"So what's up? Giles was pretty quiet on the trip over. He seemed lost in his own thoughts..." Willow said and Faith stepped in on this one.

"Hope. She's... There's something wrong with her." Willow's face went from confused to more confused. Faith had failed to realise that Willow didn't yet know that she had a sister, much less that she was called Hope.

"Who's Hope?" Willow asked and Buffy decided to jump on this one.

"Faith's twin sister. She came here a few days ago."

"Oh." Willow said without really getting it. She looked at Faith, "Twin sister huh? Is she really like Faith in... y'know everything?" She finished lamely and Faith got what she was hinting even if the hint would've been less revealing if she'd just said what was on her mind in simple terms.

"No, she's not a convicted murderer. No, she's not a slayer. But yes she does fight vampires. Oh, and she lived with my Dad so she's less psychotic." Faith said all of these things in more of a factual tone instead of a mocking tone or a sarcastic tone, well except for the last sentence. She just had to throw that in for their later reference. If they ever thought of later referencing it.

"So what happened to her?" Willow asked and Buffy answered her while Faith proceeded to wonder exactly why she'd left Hope's side to meet Willow and Kennedy.

"I-We, well... There was a dead girl that Hope and Faith found and then Hope went all psychic and then led us to another girl who had just been murdered and then her head started to go all 'ahh' and then her eyes went fully white." Buffy said in an almost non stop manner much like Willow's famous ramble-mode.

"White?" Kennedy piped up behind Willow, not helping the fact that she was intensely curious. After all she didn't even know Faith well so she was still curious about that and the fact that she had a twin and that twin was suffering mystical illness was even more wood to add to the fire that was her curiosity. Plus Faith's earlier speech and you have one majorly curious slayer. Also you could add pissed at the fact that she was in the dark. But that one wasn't majorly.

"Enough talk. We go help her. Now." Faith cut in with a dangerous stormy expression on her face. It was obviously killing her every second that Hope was in pain and none of the other three disagreed with the dark slayer.

Buffy then led them to Hope's room and through the questioning potentials that were just as bad as the press. Eventually all four women got into the room without any extra baggage and they all looked at Hope and Dawn who was sitting by her side, just having gotten back from school and taken over from Faith in the looking over Hope aspect.

"How is she?" Buffy asked as they all gathered around the bed, but before Dawn could answer Faith did,

"The same." Buffy turned to look at Faith who was the only one not kneeling over Hope but had, instead, chosen to stand at the foot of the bed.

"How did you-?" Buffy asked but stopped when she looked into Faith's eyes and remembered the 'connection' that she'd talked about earlier.

"She's in constant pain. Every second of every minute of every hour. It's going through her body but her mind... It's not there." Faith frowned as she explored the connection more than she'd dared to do before, "She's not there. All that's left is the pain." She looked at Willow who was listening, rapt with attention like everyone else in the room, and continued,

"You have to help her Red. You have to save her."

"I will Faith." Willow said meaning every word and returned her attention to Hope. (Alright now this next bit it completely made up by me so I have no idea what I'm doing or what can be done in Wicca terms but this is being made up as I go. Oh and this next bit in the brackets is meant to be in Latin).

"(I beseech access into the land of the lost,

Where those who are lost travel among,

The things which guide and trick.

Allow this lowly being to enter this plane,

And find this lost one who is so dear,

To people present and people near.

Permit this lowly being to find and return,

Withholding the lost one so as to quieten,

Those near and dear who wish it that,

They were to see this lost thing once again.

To unburden your hands of this being,

To return it back to its own plane,

And never darken your threshold again.)"

Willow then collapsed and Kennedy quickly rushed to her side to try and make her as comfortable as possible whilst being unconscious. Then everyone heard a thump behind them and turned to see that Faith had also collapsed and Buffy and Dawn went to attend to the slayer. The three conscious females all looked at each other, worried about exactly where the other two had gone off to, no one being able to understand what Willow had said exactly.

Willow looked around and found herself in a misty looking place with a bumpy dirt floor underlying the thick fog hanging just below the floor. It looked like a scene out of a B horror flick and she almost expected some black and white zombies to come staggering out of the ground moaning.

"What the hell?" Willow heard from behind her and turned to see Faith getting up and brushing herself off with an almighty pissed off expression on her face.

"Faith?" Faith looked up at Willow, still brushing remaining dirt off of her dark denim jacket.

"Red." Faith said with a tone that so obviously said 'Oh thank god'. Then she got with the 'what the hell' again, "Where are we?"

"The land of the lost. I don't know exactly why you're here Maybe they took the whole 'near and dear' thing literally." Willow said, thinking aloud more than explaining to Faith. She frowned slightly as thinking, depending on her memory which seemed to be fading faster than normal.

"Huh?" Faith pretty much summed her feelings up in one word she knew that she could always count on to do the summing up.

"The spell. There's a bit where it says stuff about the people near and dear to Hope wishing that they could see her again." Willow looked at Faith and shook the fast disappearing memory off as much as she could.

"And you're thinking that they took this to the next level."

"Well, yeah."

"So we're looking for Hope in the land of the lost."

"Well... Yeah."

"So..." Faith began before the two women turned to the expanse of empty fog in front of them and then continued as the sense of dread settled over them like the fog, "We got a plan or we just going to wander?"

"Well there is a plan." Willow sounded proud of herself as she stated this fact but lost it as Faith looked at her expectantly and she had to explain the plan, "A plan to wander. It's a wandering plan."

So the two women looked at each other with a vaguely worried expression before setting out in the bare, misty, with a strangely blue tinge, land with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the memories in their heads. The latter would be harder to hold onto but they didn't know that yet.

After what seemed like an eternity, Faith decided to bring the success, or lack thereof, to the Wicca's attention. Just in case she'd overlooked it, like how they seemed to be overlooking Hope.

"Um Red, not whingeing or anything, but do you happen to have a better plan stowed away? Cos I know plenty of lost people that should be here, but this place seems... I dunno... Kinda empty."

"Well maybe Hope doesn't want to be found."

"You saying she likes playing ghostie in the 'Land of the Lost' more than killing vamps in the 'Land of Yours Truly'?" Willow shrugged, anything was possible. She didn't even know what Hope was like in the first place so that was possible even more so. Faith seemed insulted by this reply, okay more than seemed more of a 'was'.

"I know my sister. There's nothing she likes more'n a good fight with a vamp, or twenty."

"Maybe that's the problem." A voice said out of nowhere and that left both women with the heebie-jeebies and frantic looking around. Okay, one was frantically looking around, the other knew exactly who it was.

"Hope." Faith said simply. This stopped Willow who just looked at Faith who was looking up into a random piece of fog.

"You know how this goes Faith. You know my secret."

'Well yeah, but what's 'that thing' got to do with vamps?" There was silence and then,

"Okay, you clearly not with the knowing of my secret."

"So it's not 'that thing' you did back when you were three years old with the..." The voice cut her off abruptly at this and Willow had a feeling that it was a very embarrassing story from the abruptness of the cut off.

"No. Nup. No way. Nope. That's a secret, one you should go to your grave with, but not the secret."

"Well then, what's the secret?" Faith asked.

"I'm not telling you." The voice whinged so Faith coaxed it gently.

"Come on, I'm your twin Hope. I'll find out sooner or later."

"I thought you'd known sooner cos of the whole sharing feelings but I guess you just mistook it as your own. Can't say I blame you. I've never been that good with the distinguishing of mine and yours. Except for the random ones."

"Hope what are you-?" Faith stopped suddenly and then her face betrayed her shock, "Oh my god. No you can't..." Then she appeared to be bombarded with evidence for the 'Yes I can' side and her face betrayed her emotion so much that Willow realised that she'd never seen the slayer so open and so... shocked.

"It's what I am Faith. Even dad knew."

"Dad's wrong then. I know how you feel Hope, you don't want this."

"I know I don't Faith. But then it's not as if I can change it. After all I was chosen."

"You don't have to. There are hundreds of girls out there. You don't need to be it."

"I was it when you were." The voice said and Faith swallowed hard. Willow just looked on with a concerned, worried and curious expression on her face.

"I mean, I was fighting vamps before that... but then I was fighting them from when I was six. But one day, same day as you, everything changed." Willow's eyes widened as she suddenly realised what was going on and what they were talking about. She whispered it quietly to herself, barely moving her lips.

"You're a slayer."

TBC

Dun, dun, dun. Hehe alright so I kinda let that slip earlier than I'd planned. But (and here's a spoiler) we don't know that the voice is Hope... Think of the spell... Hint, hint. Re: 'The things which (bleep) and (bleep).' Think of the 'bleeps'. Then again I could just change my mind. Never know, it could happen. Please review, make me happy. Grin.

JB

PS For those who read the AN and realised that I said _slayer_ (or more specifically Willow) there's a hint to stuff happening in the next chapter.


	9. Chapter 8: Memories

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: As the title indicates this is all about Hope's memories. Showing a past almost as bad as Faith's own. Of course there are some very unexplored parts like home life which I would've loved to go over in more detail, but maybe at a later date.

Chapter 8: Memories

"How do we know that you're you?" Willow asked and Faith shot her a look. Then she decided to elaborate, "I mean, how do we know that you're Hope? I know what I said in my own spell you know." There was a chuckle.

"Alright so you got me. I ain't her. I'm just a messenger okay." Faith's face contorted into a painful and deadly expression. Someone was going to pay.

"I mean Faith here thought I was Hope cos she's talking through me. I'm like a conduit between the two of you. Like a window between here and there."

"Huh?" Willow apparently didn't know her spell as well as she thought.

"There aren't only things that trick there are guides as well. I thought you knew your own spell, witch." The voice drawled and both of the women shot each other a look, they were both starting to dislike this voice. Its sarcasm was something that could rival Faith's own and Faith couldn't help but wince on behalf of Willow when it treated her like a little kid.

"Well if you're a guide then guide us to Hope." Faith said and then Hope walked out of the fog and in front of Faith. Faith's eyes widened as she saw her twin in front of her.

"You're not getting it Faith. The land of the lost isn't an actual place. This isn't another dimension which I've slipped into. It's a place that's in all of us. A place where we just forget about things and let ourselves be lost."

"Hope..." Faith began but Hope cut her off.

"You want to find me? You got to do it with memories," Hope tapped her temple, "You know some of my memories, you got 'em tucked away somewhere. Bring them out. It's the only way for you to find me. Help me remember who I am." Faith reached out to touch her but her form was replaced by fog which Faith's hand passed through.

"Ah, ah, ah, no touchies." The voice taunted Faith and then softened to say, "You want to find your sister you got to bring out her memories."

"But I-" Faith started and the voice interrupted her again,

"Remember." Then the voice faded and Faith looked around frustrated.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" She yelled off into the mist and after a few more rants from Faith Willow put a hand on her shoulder. This calmed her pretty much and she turned to Willow.

"Maybe you should just... I don't know, try. See if you can reach within yourself and draw it out." Willow said shrugging slightly and her own confusion clear on her face. Faith looked at her and said with a slight grit in her voice.

"I don't know... I can't remember..." The last word trailed off and all anger disappeared from Faith's face. She swallowed hard and looked at the ground, not really seeing it, her eyes darting from place to place like a humming bird. Then a crease appeared in between her eyebrows and she looked up at Willow, her eyes showing that her mind completely clear and Willow could almost see the memories being played out in her eyes. Then it felt like they were being sucked _into _the memories and then...

And then they were in them.

A very young, about three or four year old, Faith stood in the doorway of the lounge room of a dilapidated apartment, just behind her mother sitting in a Lazy Boy facing away from her. Her dad was walking from the bathroom to the bedroom further down the hall. He stopped when he saw Faith. He walked towards her, bare feet padding on the old and quite disgusting carpet.

"Hey, watcha doin' honey? Its way past your bed-" He stopped when he saw what she was looking at. His jaw clenched visibly as he saw the empty beer bottles around his wife, her limp hand hanging from the side of the chair, and her heavy snore. He gently took Faith's hand and said,

"Come on big girl, let's get you to sleep." Faith looked up at her father before looking back at her mom and shaking her head.

"I wanna say goodnight to mommy." Her dad sighed softly and then went over to the unconscious figure and shook her gently. Faith's mom whinged swear words before finally opening her eyes. Her speech was slurred and barely recognisable.

"I'm fine. Five by five. You know. Five beers in five... minutes. Five by five." Her husband sighed and the called Faith while she was still awake. Faith toddled up to the chair and said, with big eyes,

"Goodnight mommy, I love you." The response was a large snore. Faith then toddled off to the bedroom she shared with her twin at her dad's side.

"How was mom?" Hope asked after Faith turned the light off and settled into bed.

"Five by five." Faith replied, revelling in her cool new saying.

"You?"

"Five by five."

"Okay."

"What bout you?" Faith said, sleep weighing heavily on her speech.

"Five by five too." With that both girls went to sleep wondering exactly what 'Five by five' meant.

A teen Hope, about sixteen or seventeen, and another girl of about the same age were surrounded by five vamps. Hope didn't have her guns, but a stake instead. She fought with a precision that Willow had only seen in Buffy and Faith. She staked two of them and then a third without much trouble and was busy with the fourth. The fifth had sneaked around her and the other girl who was peering over Hope's shoulder.

Faith and Willow only now got a good look at the girl who had dyed blonde hair and striking green eyes with dashes of hazel in them. Both of the women witnessing the memory were struck by just how alike she and Buffy were. Except for the whole not kicking vamps ass. She left that to Hope who's shoulder she was peering over.

Without a warning the vamp crept up behind her bit into her neck just as Hope dusted the fourth vamp.

"Hope!" The girl let out a scream as she felt the life being drained out of her and Hope turned to see the vamp sucking the girl dry and gave an almighty yell with wide eyes.

"Jess!" The vamp dropped the girl to the floor and looked at the slayer with a smug expression on his face. But Hope had other things in mind. She dusted him without a second thought and fell to her knees by Jessica's side. She gathered the blonde in her arms and ran her hands over the girl's eyes, shutting them, and started to cry, cradling Jess' body to her.

They were in a cemetery. Hope didn't look much older than in the other memory. She was taking out a bunch of vampires with her twin guns. Behind her on a gravestone her leather jacket, Berreta and mini stun gun lay, her holsters for all the world to see were strapped to her on top of a white wife beater. When all of the vamps were well and truly dusted a woman who reminded both of the audience strongly of Gwendolyn Post stepped out of the shadows.

"Quiet well done but you must use your stake Hope. It is traditional, after all." She said in a mightier-than-thou look on her face. Hope just looked at her for a second with a death glare painfully present and directed straight at the British woman and then said,

"No. Using a stake gets people killed. It is slow and hard to use and gives vampires a chance to get to your neck. Or the people around you."

"Hope you must not let one encounter cloud your vision. It is tradition."

"You know what?" Hope asked and holstered her gun threateningly, "Screw this." She went to the gravestone and picked up her paraphernalia. She slung the Berreta over her shoulders, clipping it to the holster.

"You cannot deny who you are Hope. Being a slayer not only means that you can see evil, but that it can see you. You will be fighting evil whether you renounce your status or not."

"Let them come. I will kill them one by one," The watcher had a relieved expression as Hope said this whilst putting the stunner back in its place at the back of her pants but her next sentence changed the relief, "But not as the slayer." Hope slipped on her duster and it billowed behind her (think Spike putting on his beloved duster in 'Get It Done'). She adjusted it so that it fell perfectly on her shoulders, like a second skin.

"Never as the slayer." She said, turning her head to look directly into the eyes of her watcher, her own cold and hard, with as much lack of emotion as was possible in a living person's eyes. Hope then she turned and disappeared off into the night without hesitation.

A bell jangled over a shop door and the owner looked up to see Hope walking in. She looked older now, more tired, and so much like Faith that it scared both of the witnesses to the memories. It was a shop filled with guns of all different varieties. Hope took these in with a cold look and ignored the guns, more focusing on the dark corners and places that could conceal anything, a vamp, a demon, god even the Easter bunny.

"Hey Hope." The owner smiled causing his double chin to become a triple. Hope looked around warily as she walked into the store before reaching the glass show case counter and looking at the big jolly man and allowing herself a small smile.

"Hey Kenny." She nodded at him and gave the shop another once over with her powerful gaze.

"So what brings you to my neck of the woods?" Hope dumped her duffel bag at her feet and took off all of her main guns, the two semi autos that looked a bit like Colts, the Beretta and the stunner. She dumped these on the counter and looked him straight in the eye.

"Engravings." Kenny's eyes lit up at the array of guns before him. He picked up one of the Colt variations. He studied it with his small beady eyes before they widened and he looked over it at Hope,

"These are Cobalt Azure's guns." Hope gazed off into space and nodded almost imperceptibly but the keen eye of the shopkeeper caught it. His eyes reverted back to the gun and he began studying it in greater detail. After a few seconds Faith got slightly impatient.

"Kenny." She said in a warning tone and he immediately placed the gun back on the table.

"Sorry, it's just... To us gun people a Cobalt is... Well like a myth." Hope shot him a look and he cleared his throat, "Right, engravings." Hope pointed to each gun as she named them and the shop keeper wrote each order down on a piece of paper with an inch long pencil.

She pointed to one of the Colt variations, "Tom," The other, "Dick," The Beretta, "And Harry." Then she pointed to the stunner, "And that's Joe Bloggs. But just call him Joe."

"You have a sense of humour Hope. I'll do 'em now, it'll take about ten minutes." Kenny said and Hope shot him another look,

"It'll take five." She growled and Kenny looked at the young girl who looked older than possible and caved under her glare and nodded. He took the guns round back and Hope heard the screech of metal on metal and then, three minutes later, he came toddling out with guns in tow. He placed each one carefully on the desk. Hope picked each one up and inspected them before putting them in their place.

"On the house." Kenny said in an attempt to be warm towards the girl but she just gave him a look that said 'Of course, would it be any other way?'.

"What about the rest of 'em in the duffel?" Kenny asked and Hope didn't reply, just slung the aforementioned duffel onto her shoulder and started to walk out.

"You seen Cobalt lately?" Kenny asked just as she was about to leave the store. She turned and looked at the chubby man, fire flashing in her eyes. Then she turned back to the door and Kenny thought that she wasn't going to reply again until he realised that she wasn't moving, just standing and staring at the door.

"No, he left town after I murdered his daughter." Hope replied, more talking to the door rather than the overweight shopkeeper.

"You didn't murder Jess. It was the vamp." Hope didn't turn to look at him when she replied,

"I should've stopped him. But I didn't" And for the first time she turned to look at the shopkeeper with tears in her eyes, "And now she's dead." Hope turned back to the door, not wishing to show the shopkeeper any more of her weakness.

"It's all my fault." And with that she pushed the door open and walked into the blinding sunlight.

There was blinding white light and then...

Hope woke up to the concerned face of Dawn Summers. She blinked and then looked around not moving her head. Her gaze returned to Dawn and it had a combination of confusion and gladness of knowing the person hovering above her.

"Hey Dawn break, what's going on?"

TBC

Like I always say, unless I'm not saying it, if you're not ending a chapter with a cliffie, or a relatively cliffie-like thing, then don't end a chapter. I'd file this under the relatively cliffie-like thing. I don't know where the hell I'm going to take this next so yeah. Probably bonding over a nice strong vamp battle. Sister to sister. And maybe Buffy can tag along... If she really wants to.

And if you don't get why this is a cliffie remember: Hope's never met Dawn before so why does she know her? And why's she calling her what Faith usually calls her. Uh-huh. Stick that in your non existent pipe and smoke it.

Trivia: Yes I know I'm weird for using my name in there (jess) but it's such a great name y'know... Okay, okay, more because of a reason I'll explore later about Cobalt Azure's obsession at naming his daughter a normal name, unlike his own, and since Jess is so popular and it seemed to fit the character better than 'Emily' I decided to use it. Oh and I'm not a blonde and neither do I look like SMG or Buffy (pfft, I wish).

Mm interesting. Not. Okay I'm gonna go do something else or read someone else's stuff.

JB


	10. Chapter 9: Faith Or Hope

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Okay, in the beginning it may be confusing because the two have swapped bodies. Or swapped personalities. Well, something's swapped. I'll change it around later on and then change it back for, like, the last two paragraphs. Hope's personality is going to go to a dark place because all of her old memories are being stirred up.

Chapter 9: Faith... Or Hope

Faith groaned loudly and attracted everyone in the room's attention. She opened her eyes and looked up at Buffy.

"Hey Buffy." She groaned and then shifted around before frowning and realising that she was on the floor. She sat up slowly.

"You guys are great, put the girl who's gone all catatonic on the floor." Buffy seemed to be embarrassed at the lack of empathy towards Faith.

"Sorry, it's just that Hope needed to be on the bed."

"Wha-huh?" Faith looked at Buffy with a clueless expression on her face. She grimaced lightly, as if brushing off something and then continued with a slight grimace and the residue of the clueless expression, "I'm sorry I meant to say: What? Hello? I'm Hope. Hope is me. Me is Hope." She said, her gestures getting wilder with each sentence. It was Buffy's turn to be clueless.

"Huh?" She asked and Faith looked around the room at all of the people that were staring at her. She stared back at them with equal intensity.

"What?"

"You're Faith." Kennedy said, breaking the silence. Faith frowned slightly and disagreed after a second.

"Uh no. I'm Hope. You know, Faith's twin. Not actually her..." Faith stopped talking as Dawn moved aside so that she could see Hope sitting up on the bed and staring at her.

"Woah." Faith said and Hope stared back at her.

"Took the words right outta my mouth little sis. Or... me." Hope said, a crease appearing between her eyebrows. She continued, the crease deepening slightly, "Not quite sure how this works."

"You and me both. Although physically you're the little sis now." Faith said grinning and Hope scowled with a small grin of her own hidden behind it.

"Well... You guys are coping well." Kennedy said, breaking the silence of everyone else in the room who were currently in shock, and voicing their opinion all in one go.

Hope shrugged and Faith did the same, both at exactly the same time.

"Okay, Will," Buffy started and turned to Willow who had been helped up by Kennedy earlier, "Any idea about why this happened? Or what has happened?"

Willow tore her gaze away from the twins and looked at Buffy. She replied absentmindedly, already in the throes of thoughts about the magical possibilities, "I'll start looking into it."

Willow then left the room, followed closely by Kennedy. Dawn grimaced at the other three in the room and said, "I'll go, you know, help." She followed the two and Buffy and the twins were left in the room. Faith rubbed her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet, chock-a-block with energy.

"I'm gonna go out. Hunt some vamps."

"We'll come with you." Buffy slotted in quickly before Faith could leave the room. Hope started to protest but Buffy made eye contact with her so she just rolled her eyes and shrugged an agreement. Faith looked at the both of them and looked as if she was about to turn them down but, instead, just followed Faith's movements and rolled her eyes before shrugging an agreement.

When the three left the room Hope was pounced on by various potentials who demanded information. Hope looked at Faith who shrugged so she relayed this to the potentials, who parted disappointedly for the three women who then continued out into the dark night.

The women then walked the short trip to the closest cemetery with hardly a word passing between them. They approached a crypt and all of them felt it. There was a nest in there. Faith hissed to Hope, "Gimme my guns."

"Can I use the Beretta?" Hope hissed back, not giving Faith the guns yet.

"That has normal bullets. They won't do anything to the vamps except hurt them." Faith hissed back a quick explanation and Hope's face fell.

"Oh. Awwwww." She whinged as they peered through the dirty window at the vamps seated in various places around the crypt, joking and laughing. A few were playing cards and some other were playing a drinking game, with actual alcohol. Not very well known for vamps to play normal drinking games but these guys were hiding out from the potentials. Laying low, you know how it is.

"Just gimme my guns." Faith hissed and Hope sulkily handed them over. As Faith's fingers curled around the handle of each one and she felt the grip in her palm a smile creeped onto her face. Hope looked at Faith, she felt the buzz that Faith felt when she curled her fingers around the handle and knew it was the same as when she curled her own fingers around a stake. An adrenaline rush and anticipation of a good kill. Or, in gun girl's case, twenty.

"Let's do this." She said and let loose a battle cry before kicking the door down and shooting all over the crypt. Although it didn't look like it, each shot had been aimed at a vampire and each shot hit a vampire. Causing the entire population to be decreased to dust faster than you could say 'Bite me'.

"God sis, leave some for the stake wielding folk." Hope said looking around at the absolute lack of vampires and Faith just grinned sheepishly. She could tell a compliment which came as an insult when she heard one and that was definitely one.

A scared looking vampire peeked over a coffin at the three girls and Hope, seeing him, charged towards him yelling.

"Mine! Mine! Mine!" Hope yelled as she tore across the crypt but to no avail. Before Hope could even hope to reach him, Faith shot him.

Hope turned on her heel and gave Faith a big dirty. Faith grunted an apology and let the empty clips slide out of the guns before reloading them.

"What's up with you?" Hope asked, tucking her stake into the back of her leather pants after clearing away her duster.

"Stakes aren't that effective." Faith said simply and Hope shut her mouth right away, knowing exactly what this meant. Faith may have remembered that Hope knew, but she may not have. She just said this as if stating a fact that had come from a national poll. But Hope remembered why they weren't effective, why they weren't effective to Faith anyway.

"What do you mean not effective? They are very effective. It goes: slayer, vampire, stake, poof." Faith just studied the ground intensely and her knuckles began turning white from holding the guns at her side in a tightly clenched fist. Buffy didn't notice this, however, and was about to continue when Hope made eye contact with her and shook her head. Buffy looked confused by went quiet anyway, anticipating an explanation later on.

"Let's go to another cemetery eh? Find some potentials and relieve em of duty." Hope said, breaking the silence and walked to the entrance, opening the door invitingly. Buffy walked through glancing back at Faith a few times but never saying anything, and then eventually Faith stopped gritting her teeth so hard and took a deep breath before walking out of the crypt. Hope was last out and closed the door gently, letting it click shut behind her.

(From now on I'm going to Hope and Faith by their personalities, not by whose body they inhabit. Just cos it's getting a bit confusing now.)

Hope, Faith and Buffy walked to the next cemetery in an awkward silence. Buffy was deep in thought about why Hope had been so against stakes and why Faith had stopped her, Faith was in between the two and hoped that she could keep the emotions down to a minimum, and Hope was gripping her guns, gritting her teeth and not giving in to tears that were threatening behind her eyelids.

It wasn't long before they met a group of potentials who were sitting around in the cemetery playing games and talking about random subjects. They saw the three slayers approaching and stood up and tried to look businessy. Buffy couldn't help but shake her head and be all strict teacher at them before letting them get home.

"You should relax B, let them have some fun, y'know?" Faith said as she took a seat on a gravestone that one of the potentials had been seated on. Buffy sighed heavily.

"Hope... Or Faith. You should know that slaying isn't just about being here and showing up for the job. It's also about doing the job. Protecting people, saving them, killing vamps." Buffy said and Faith glanced at Hope who had heard every word and was now inwardly punishing herself and taking every word on board.

"Well I dunno B, I mean in some instances, many instances, you might be out with another person and then that person could get hurt and you couldn't have done anything about it." Faith said, looking at Hope.

"Well how about not bringing the other person?" Buffy said, completely not taking a hint. Faith decided that any more attempts would cause Buffy to just dig the whole deeper and put her sister more into suicide mode so she just shook her head and went over to her sister who was standing there studying the ground intensely.

"You okay?" She asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Hope looked at her and said with absolutely no emotion in her voice or face, "Five by five."

There was a quiet 'oof' behind them and a thump as a vampire tackled Buffy to the ground. The two sisters turned to see this and Faith went to help but got a kick that made her reel back into a big grave statue and hit her head on it, causing her to drop to the ground. She looked up, suddenly sickeningly dizzy and reached around to the back of her head and when she brought her hand back to her eyes she saw the dark red sticky stuff on her hand just before passing out.

Hope stood there, catatonic, as Buffy wrestled with the vamp in front of her. Buffy kicked the vamp off of her and flipped up to her feet. She looked at Hope,

"Faith! Or... Hope! Are you just going to stand there? Help..." But Hope never got to hear who she had to help because the vampire came at Buffy again, knocking her off of her feet. This time the vamp was winning. Buffy continued to struggle with him but he kept getting closer and closer to her throat. Just as she felt the tips of his teeth on her throat she screamed.

"Hope!" Unbeknownst to Buffy it was exactly the same thing that Jess had screamed before she'd been drained and it was this one thing that shook Hope out of her catatonic state. She saw Buffy in a fatal position and raised her arm to shoot the vampire, who collapsed into dust on top of Buffy.

"I told you stakes weren't effective." Hope said hollowly, not looking at our blonde hero.

Buffy breathed hard and her pupils dilated as she realised that Hope had saved her from death. Well the death part wasn't that big but the fact that Hope hadn't helped earlier pissed her off slightly. Okay, more than slightly. She looked up at Hope with one of her steely glares. Hope didn't notice any of this though, and didn't even look at Buffy. She was looking at where the vamp used to be and swallowed hard.

She dropped both of the guns and looked at the spot hard, as if the vampire was still there. Her eyes betrayed the fact that she had many emotions battling it out in her mind. It was probably the most showing of emotions that Faith's eyes (cos remember this is Faith's body) had ever revealed. She then turned and walked away in such a way that it reminded Buffy strongly of the way that Angel had walked away after the mayor had been defeated with the smoke and the fire trucks and the flashing lights.

(Okay, this next mini section there will be no more personality stuff and quips so this will be referring to the twins as whose body it is. Also Buffy's referrals are her vision being clouded and forgetting that the two have exchanged personalities.)

Buffy just stared at the retreating figure of Faith and felt something threatening to be released. Something that she didn't want to be released. She clenched her jaw and just got up. Then she saw Hope lying by a statue of an angel with a nasty looking head wound. She quickly gathered her into her arms and carried her back to the house.

Only one thing was relaying in her mind. And that was that she would make sure that Hope was okay. Faith could hold her own. After all, she was five by five.

TBC

Okay, less of a cliffie here. Ah well, I wanted to put more on but then it got too long, so now it's too short. Instead I'm putting it next chapter. Take a walk in Hope's shoes. Or I suppose now they're really Faith's shoes... Most of it will be Hope thinking and possibly Scooby research on what's happened.

I will be exploring Hope's relationship with her dad, Jess and Jess' dad, Cobalt Azure. So stick around for the next chapter on (announcer's voice) Five Byyyyy Fiiiive!

Hehe

JB


	11. Chapter 10: Rome

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Okay, naming Hope and Faith's dad Herb Saunders for the time being until I come up with a good name. You can make suggestions if you want... Cos I'm lazy hehe! A chapter of flashbacks is this one. The character of Jess will be expanded, Cobalt will be introduced properly and how she got the jacket will be included just for fun. And some stuff about her trip to LA you didn't know.

Chapter 10: Rome

(This bit is Hope, that's to say Hope in Faith's body)

Hope wandered the streets of Rome. It was a beautiful city in the night. It was so old fashioned, what with the cobblestone road and the old buildings. Maybe that was part of the reason that she loved it. It had a classically old air to it. It really was a charming city.

Hope wrapped her arms around herself as she walked, she was only wearing a tank top and leather pants. Faith had no sense of the cold and dressed like it. So Hope was stuck wearing this in cold temperatures while Faith got to wear her jacket. She loved that jacket. Her dad had given it to her as a sixteenth birthday present. She still remembered it as though it was yesterday.

Flashback-

"Hey sweetie, happy sixteenth." Herb Saunders (No I'm just kidding, I haven't given this guy a name yet so I've decided to call him the character that Angel uses to go undercover in the first season of 'Angel'. I'm not saying that Faith and Hope's last name is Saunders either. If I do come up with a last name for the duo it will be cooler. Since they drew the short straws regarding their first names and all. Onward with the story!) woke his daughter with soft words and a big smile. His daughter, however, was having none of it.

"G'way dad."

"Come on sweetie, I've got a great surprise for you." He said with a massive grin and Hope groaned.

"Leamelone." Hope slurred but this didn't deter Herb (hehe, Herb!).

"Believe me you will want to get up for this." He said gently but gleefully.

Fifteen minutes and many complaints later Herb had managed to coax Hope into coming down the stairs, if only just to get him off of her back on her sixteenth. She thumped her way down the stairs of their pleasant 'burbs home. She yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes before blinking them rather comically.

"There should be a law against fathers waking their daughters up on their sixteenth birthday at," She complained and glanced at her watch, "Eleven forty-five am." Herb laughed at his daughter light heartedly and then got out a big white rectangular box before placing it in front of his daughter.

"Happy sixteenth birthday sweetie." Hope looked at her dad over the box with narrowed eyes.

"I suppose that this is something that I'm gonna thank you for immensely. Y'know something that I've been begging you for since... ever." Herb didn't answer his daughter but just raised his eyebrows and then couldn't hold it in, and smiled widely at his daughter. She returned his smile and opened the box to find...

A top quality, absolutely beautiful and marvellous and oh-my-god stylish leather duster. She slipped it on and squealed excitedly when she found it to be an absolutely perfect fit. She jumped up and down squealing with excitement and jumped over to her dad's side of the bench and gave him a huge hug.

"I love you dad! And I love this jacket!"

End Flashback-

Hope stumbled across a club that had lights flashing crazily all over the place and dance music playing loudly that shook the building. It was exactly like where she'd met Jess for the first time. She'd met her at the bar. She walked up to the actual bar and ordered a beer.

A couple on the dance floor caught her eye, along with just about everyone else in the club. They were doing the very definition of dirty dancing and all of the guys looked like they were going to have a coronary whilst all the girls were shooting the girl dirties. She grimaced at the sight and remembered a very similar one that had happened years ago.

She got her beer and sipped it slowly. She cradled her drink as she thought of what had happened when she'd seen the similar couple years ago..

Flashback-

Hope had just managed to fleece a drink of the bartender with a smile and a few not so subtle gestures. She sipped her drink, tasting the victory. And it sure tasted sweet.

A quick scan of the dance floor caused her to see a couple who were dancing so closely that you couldn't get a piece of paper between them. It actually looked like they were going at it on the dance floor. It was amusing and as Hope looked at them she thought that she could definitely teach that girl a thing or two. Sure she had some moves but Hope... Well think Faith.

The couple stopped dancing, much to the disappointment of many a men. Then it became painfully obvious that the girl was incredibly, incredibly drunk.

The girl walked up to the bar swaying slightly, with only the guy to support her. She probably would have been flat on her face if it wasn't for him. He was being very 'supportive'. Hope was sure that the clinginess to certain parts was all to help her stand up.

"C-Can I have a pina colada please?" The girl said, not able to talk properly. The guy just held her very close to him. The bartender nodded and served her even though she was obviously as young as Hope. Hope was pretty pissed off, usually she would leave it alone but this guy had refused to sell her a drink until she'd pulled some things off. And she'd shown him a damn good fake ID too! There was no way this girl was getting away with it.

Hope grabbed the bartender by his shirt and hissed, "Why did you serve her without asking for ID? She's obviously as young as I am. So you better give me an explanation before I snap your neck like a twig." The bartender went from cocky to terrified in one millisecond and his eyes went comically wide.

"I-I don't usually give out drinks to minors, I swear. It's just that, that's James Lafferty. Everyone knows that you give him what he wants or you're dead. If he has a girl with him then he wants to get her drunk so you serve her, no matter how old she is." Hope looked at the guy who looked as if he was going to wet his pants before shaking her head and letting him go with a push.

She downed the remnants of her beer and got off of the bar stool to follow the two leaving the club through the back door. She'd felt something but it was only after the bartender's confession that she let herself believe that this guy was a vamp. And that his 'date' was dinner. She groaned with annoyance, couldn't girls not get themselves into mortal peril by jumping the bones with the first random guy that came along.

Okay, so that was slightly hypocritical, but at least Hope didn't sleep with vampires. That was just... perverted. Hope saw the guy who had the girl against the alley wall and closed in on her, vamping. She sighed heavily, time to go to work.

She jogged up to him, don't ask how she did that in high heels, it was a skill that few could master. Damn, randoms are so not worth this, she thought as she put on her own game face. The lost helpless girl.

"Um, excuse me." The vamp, James Lafferty was his name, turned to her. And she continued in 'innocent little girl' tone, "I think you dropped this..." Hope said and he looked at her puzzled. Hope reached inside her leather duster and brought out a... stake.

He looked back up at the girl and saw the smirk on her face.

"Surprise." She said and then uppercut his jaw. He was thrown back by the force of the punch into the opposite wall and he slid down it. He got up and Hope threw a punch which hit him in the face. He grunted and was thrown against the wall again. He charged her and she dodged easily. He came at her and she jumped up on a box and launched herself off it to spin kick him in the face. That had him down on the ground.

When he got up he came at her again and she just threw him against the wall. She kneed him in the back and he grunted. He swung around with him fist but she ducked it easily and just punched him for his troubles She them kicked him against the wall and threw him down on the ground. When he got up and charged her punching she dodged the punch and threw him against the wall again before staking him.

"Well that was fun." Hope said and then put the stake back her duster. She heard the girl take a step behind her and turned to find a not so drunk girl standing there with a pissed of expression.

"Why'd you have to do that?" She asked, standing completely well on her own two feet.

"Um, you're welcome." Hope said, rivalling the girl's pissed off expression with her own.

"That," The girl pointed at the dust, "was my kill."

"Your kill?" Hope asked incredulously, "What do you mean your kill? A few minutes earlier you could barely stand and had that vamp all over you..." Then she realised what was going on and was more pissed off at herself that she hadn't realised earlier, "Which was all an act to get out here and kill him, wasn't it?"

"Well, duh." She said and rolled her eyes.

"Hey, what can I say, you're a great actress. Really." Hope said sarcastically. The girl recognised the sarcasm and glared at her.

"Who do you think you are? The slayer?" The girl asked, thinking that this question was so incredibly ridiculous that there was no way that a 'yes' would come from Hope's mouth. Well she was wrong.

"Well, yeah. I'm Hope, the vampire slayer. And you are?" Hope said with a big smirk on her face as the girl's eyes widened.

"Jess. You're Hope." Jess said and Hope opened her arms.

"The one and only."

"Damn. I thought you'd be taller." To this Hope replied with her middle finger stuck firmly up at the bottle blonde.

End Flashback-

Hope drunk down the dregs of her beer and put it down on the counter. She walked out of the club without a second look at the couple on the dance floor. She felt the cool air hit her as she left the night club and automatically reached to pull her duster tighter but, of course, she wasn't wearing it.

Then she remembered her own look as she discovered later on that Jess was in fact her dad's best friend's daughter. About the same as Jess' reaction to finding out that she was Hope. Apparently her dad had been more in share mode than Hope's dad.

Flashback-

Hope and her dad were travelling to Cobalt's place. Hope was fiddling with one of the two guns that Cobalt had given her for her sixteenth birthday. Her dad looked across at her from the driver's seat and raised an eyebrow. Hope looked at him and sighed heavily.

"Come on dad. Don't be like that." Hope said and her dad looked at her.

"Don't be like what? What am I being like?" He asked with a look of confusion on his face. Hope couldn't exactly tell if it was mock or real. Her dad was good in that way.

"All... Fatherly. I mean, guns are better than stakes. I can kill vampires a lot better with two guns that with one stake." Hope said trying to defend her two guns and the importance of their use. Her dad just sighed and said,

"Alright, alright. I just wish he would've given them to you when you were older." Herb (hehe) said with a slight pout on his face.

"Aw dad. You're so cute." Hope said in that cutesy voice that everyone insists on using towards babies and animals.

"Thanks honey." Her dad said and she smirked at him.

"So we're meeting Cobalt's daughter. Fun." She said, changing the subject after becoming bored with taunting her dad.

"Yeah it should be."

"So, what's her name?"

"Jess."

"Huh, that's the name of this really annoying girl who knew me for some reason. She kept complaining that I'd killed her vamp." Hope said, reminiscing. Her dad only raised his eyebrow to this and she punched him on the shoulder lightly.

"Hey! I was just raising my eyebrow because this Jess is completely not a fighter. She's scared of vampires." He said as he pulled into Cobalt's driveway.

"Huh." Was all Hope said as she got out of the car.

Cobalt Azure stood in front of the garage with a teenage girl whose shoulder he was resting his arm on. Hope's eyes widened slightly as did her grin as she saw who the girl was. Cobalt had brown hair and electric blue eyes, he worked on his body a lot and was well built. He had a wide smile on his face and Jess had a similar one on her own. Until she saw Hope that is.

"Scared of vampires. Huh." Hope said and her smirk widened as she looked at the bottle blonde and put her guns away in their holsters. Jess seemed to gulp at exactly what Hope was going to do or say next.

And then Hope said, "Hey you're not wearing a vampire anymore. Trying out a new fashion statement?"

End Flashback-

She passed by a phone booth and thought about exactly what had happened in LA. Or what happened in the last few minutes.

Flashback-

"So you're leaving for Rome?" Angel asked, sitting on his desk in front of Hope and she nodded.

"Yeah, been putting it off for long enough I reckon." Hope got up and Angel stood as well. Hope smiled at him and then started out.

"Hope?" Angel asked and Hope turned to the vampire with a soul.

"Yeah Ace?"

"If you ever need any help, just call and I'll be there." Angel said and Hope looked at him before smiling brightly.

"Just promise that you won't just send Railroad." Angel smiled at the mention of Spike's nickname and nodded his head.

"I promise." Hope smiled at him and walked out of the office. When she got into the foyer she saw Spike and he walked towards her.

"Railroad." Hope said and Spike smiled one of his 'I'm so smug' smiles.

"So you're going to Rome."

"Yeah. Don't get all teary on me Railroad."

"I won't. Just... Don't tell her. That I'm... back." Spike said and Hope nodded. Then he decided to tell her the why, "Our relationship ran its course and now it's over. No need to go stirring anything up again."

"Let me tell you a secret, Railroad." Hope said and leaned in a bit closer to Spike, "A relationship has never run its course."

"Are you giving me hope that me an' Buff have a future?" Spike asked almost incredulously. Hope leaned back again and smirked at him evilly.

"You and Ace both. He can hear us." Hope said and Spike looked past Hope where Angel was now suddenly pretending to be busy by shuffling papers and was about as embarrassed as a vampire can get. She smirked at him and gave him one of those mischievous looks.

"Keep out of trouble, yeah Railroad?" Hope said as she walked towards the elevator. Spike smirked at her in response.

"I'm not making any promises." He said and Hope just winked at him.

"I know." Then she got into the elevator and stopped it from closing with a hand.

"Tell the rest of the gang goodbye for me yeah?" Spike nodded solemnly and Hope pulled a face at this. They grinned at each other and Spike said,

"Yippee-ky-yo."

"Yippee-ky-ay." Hope returned and then the elevator doors closed.

End Flashback-

As Hope remembered this she smiled and picked up the phone before dialling the number for the LA law firm.

TBC

Okay, Angel and Spike are coming to Rome next chapter. No bashing shall be done to either character cos I love em both to death. The relationship between Hope and the two vamps is similar to Faith's relationship with the two except it's more playful. But I'm still trying to decide whether or not Buffy and the rest of the people will know that Angel and Spike are there.

Oh yeah, and I know that Angel wouldn't actually be able, or willing, to send Spike to help Hope but she doesn't actually know about his attachment to W&A because he's still a ghost at this stage.

I'm pushing the Scooby research part to next chapter cos this one is bit long. And to those who are worried about Faith don't, she'll be fine. Promise.

JB


	12. Chapter 11: Railroad and Ace

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Okay, this is set (in the Angelverse) between Destiny and You're Welcome of Season Five. Angel doesn't have many lines, he's a supportive guy who takes more in that he dishes out. Spike and Hope have this great connection. They are so incredibly close and friendly, I love their relationship cos they're like brother and sister only even more friendly. Not much I can note here... Oh yeah, Freezyboncoolipants, sorry for not responding, I don't usually respond see? But thanks for not insulting me and being all nice and stuff.

Chapter 11: Railroad and Ace

(The twins are named by personality)

"Hello?" Angel answered and Hope sighed heavily in thanks. It had taken fifteen minutes for her to convince the person who first answered the phone to pass her onto Angel, eventually just getting pissed off and telling him to call Angel and ask him himself. It took even more time to convince him to do even this but, finally, she managed it and was put through immediately.

"Hey Ace. How are you?"

"Hope." Angel said, a trace of surprise in his voice.

"It's nice to know that you're Hope." Hope said with a smile in her voice. Angel chuckled at this and Hope just grinned into the phone.

"You don't sound yourself."

"No I don't."

"You sound like..."

"Faith. Yeah, it's a complicated story. Cliff notes are that we switched bodies in a mystery way that Willow, Kennedy and Dawn are researching." Hope explained and she heard his chair squeak slightly as he leaned back on it, in thought.

"Well that's..." Angel began but paused as he tried to find a word that fit.

"Pretty damn normal for our lives eh?" Hope suggested.

"Well... Yeah." Angel agreed and Hope chuckled.

"So, are you in Rome?" Angel asked in a casual tone.

"Yeah I am." Hope said and knew by Angel's casual tone that he was feeling out exactly why she was calling him.

"How are you Hope?"

"Five by five Angel. Five by five."

"Alright, meet me outside the Rome Wolfram and Hart in two hours."

"Angel?" Hope asked, knowing that he would not, not come but only had one request.

"I'm coming Hope, no matter what you say. I know what five by five means to you sisters..."

"No, you can come, I'm fine with that."

"Oh. Then, what?"

"Bring Railroad." You could practically hear Angel's shoulders sag and his non-anticipation towards bringing Spike but he still complied.

"Of course." Hope grinned at the fakeness of the compliance but she didn't say anything.

"Thanks Ace." She said, she owed him. She knew exactly how much Spike pissed Angel off.

"Always." Then it was over and Angel and Spike were officially on their way to Rome.

Faith opened her eyes slowly and winced slightly as she did. She realised that she was being carried up stairs and opened her eyes totally quickly. Buffy realised that she was awake and she looked down at her as she continued to carry her.

"Faith?"

"Unnh, yeah." Faith said and felt the shooting pain in the back of her head.

"Are you okay?"

"Five by five." Faith grunted and then added, "Except for the whole shooting pain in the back of my head."

"Yeah, that'd be the head wound that's making you bleed all over my favourite jacket."

"Well then." Buffy walked into the bedroom and set Faith down on the bed gently. She sat up and Buffy got a bandage roll from a potential carrying a first aid box. The potential then scurried out of the room and went to do some of the things that they had to do. Not all was peaceful in the house, there was a roster or chores and this particular girl had to wash the dishes. How innocent does that sound?

Anyway, getting back to the two slayers, Faith took the bandage from Buffy's hands and started to try and unwrap it.

"What was wrong with Hope?" Buffy asked and Faith stopped struggling for a few minutes to look at Buffy and reply.

"I can't tell you." She said.

"Why not? I trusted that you would tell me later on when I stopped questioning her. That's why I stopped."

"What, have you gone all old gossipy woman on me? It's something that you don't need to know about." Faith then started fiddling with the bandage, concentrating completely on it but still not able to unwrap it.

"What are you talking about Faith? Why not?" Buffy said in a slight whine in her voice.

"It's about something that is in her memories and I'm not gonna just reveal her secret to you." Faith insisted but Buffy wasn't accepting it.

"Faith, one time you said that leading was hard and you gave the role over to me without hesitation. To be a leader I need to know people's weaknesses and this is a definite weakness. I need to know about this." Buffy said, trying to push the right buttons.

"No, you don't. It's not a weakness B." Faith insisted again but once again Buffy didn't accept it.

"She almost got me killed." Buffy said strongly, on the verge of yelling.

"She saved you." Faith said with fire in her eyes.

"I was about to die when she finally woke up."

"But you didn't die."

"I almost died because of Faith." Buffy yelled and then shut up as soon as she realised exactly what she'd said. Her eyes went wide and she looked shocked at herself for saying it and just looked at Faith reproachfully for a reaction. There was only one from Faith, that was that she just looked at Buffy as if she'd just been slapped. This stayed like that for a few moments until Faith finally moved by fiddling with the bandage again and threw it on the bed in frustration after a minute of not being able to unwrap it.

"Damn thing." Faith mumbled and Buffy picked it up gently before picking off the end and unrolling it slowly and motioned for Faith to move forward and started to gently wrap it around her head so the blood started to soak into it. When Buffy finished she tucked the end of it in and moved back. Faith lifted her head and glanced at Buffy before looking elsewhere.

"Thanks." She muttered under her breath, barely audible.

"You're welcome." Buffy said back, almost as an automatic thing, but also meaning it more than either of them could fathom.

"Yippee-ky-yo." Hope heard from the shadows behind her in the Wolfram and Hart and she grinned widely.

"Yippee-ky-fucking-ay." Hope said without turning around and she could feel the grin behind her. She turned and saw Spike standing there in all of his Spike glory.

"How are ya Railroad?" Hope asked and his grin increased.

"I'm a real boy again." Spike declared and Hope raised an eyebrow. So, to prove that he was a 'real boy' he leaned on the wall next to him and during this Hope's eyes widened. Spike just stood there leaning on the wall with a lazy grin on his face and Hope practically squealed in happiness and ran towards Spike and jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around him.

He staggered backwards slightly but he managed to steady himself with Hope giving him this massive hug. They stayed that for a few minutes always staying in the playful mood instead of sinking into the realisation of what it looked like. Then Hope got back onto her feet but still stayed close to Spike and moved to his side so they just had their arms around each other in a friendly way.

"So where's Ace?"

"Dunno, I got a different jet. I've made connections with people." Spike said, proud of himself. Hope snorted at this.

"Come on Railroad, you couldn't make connections if your life depended on it." Hope said and Spike tried to defend himself.

"That's not true. I can make connections..."

"Come on Spike, we all know you're hopeless at it." A voice said from the shadows behind them (There are a lot of shadows!) and they both turned, still arms around each other, to see Angel stepping out of the shadows with a smile on his face. Hope unwrapped herself from Spike and took a step towards the Brood Master, but still was a respectable distance away from the King of All Brooding.

"Ace." Hope inclined her head in Angel's direction in a very formal fashion.

"Hope." Angel copied the movement and sent it back to Hope. They stood there for a few seconds in 'formal' mode. Then Hope gave up and laughed her ass off. Then, when she got back up from doubling over laughing she drew Angel into a bear hug, in which he returned the warmness.

"I guess it's hugs all around then." Spike said as Angel and Hope separated. Hope smirked at him.

"What? Is wittle Wailwoad not feeling special anymore?" Hope said in a 'baby' voice.

"Now that you mention it..." Spike began in good humour sarcasm and Hope chuckled at the peroxidised vampire.

"Come on, let me show you around this beautiful city. My style." Hope added the last part when she saw the vampires about to object and say that they had come here before. Well, they'd never been shown around in 'Hope' style, obviously, and it should be interesting.

"So, how's the search?" Buffy asked as she walked into the 'research'/ library room on the first floor of the share house that was probably the biggest room in the entire house and was jam packed with books and artefacts. There were a few big cushiony chairs around that Willow and Dawn were sitting in. Kennedy was currently in the kitchen getting food/snacks. Buffy took a seat opposite from Willow and sunk into the cushiony goodness whilst Faith just stood in the doorway, her heels skirting the hall.

"I think we've got something. There was something that Faith had to do to get Hope back from the Land of the Lost." Willow said and everyone looked at Faith, who was leaning against the doorframe, expectantly. She nodded her head slightly, trying not to show the fact that the blood was seeping through the bandage wrapped around her head in the back. She didn't need people fawning over her.

"Yeah, to remember her memories." Faith said, cutting it short, preferring not to speak too much at the moment. Not really in the mood.

"Yeah, I think what happened was that they swapped memories. When Faith picked up Hope's memories her own were lost and Hope picked those up, while trying to hold onto her own."

"But, wouldn't they still have the same personalities? I mean memories don't always shape a person." Buffy asked and Dawn piped up before Willow could explain.

"That's what I thought. But Willow explained that because they're twins the environment and their personal experiences shaped their personalities so that they became different. I mean, a few things in their personalities didn't change but the most noticeable stuff has. And the fact that they react to the others' name is because of their memories of being called that." Dawn said, looking extremely proud of herself.

"So I'm still Hope, just with my... er, Faith's memories."

"It's really interesting actually, Freud says... Nothing that is important right now." Dawn trailed off after everyone shot her a Look.

"How do we reverse it Will?" Buffy asked and Willow shuffled forward on her chair to grab an open book next to her and started to explain what they had to do.

"So how've you guys been?" Hope asked and licked the ice cream that Spike insisted on buying for her from an ice cream stall that they'd passed.

"Better'n you pet, from what I've been hearing. What's been giving you the creepies? Besides the body swap." Spike asked and Hope sighed deeply.

"After the, y'know, body swap and all, memories got stirred up. A lot of them. Most of them not good. Faith wasn't the only one with the screwed up past, y'know."

"Hey, who here doesn't have a screwed up past? Please raise your hands." Spike said and all three present kept their arms firmly at their sides. They kept walking down the road and Hope stopped and the vampire on either side stopped and looked at her.

"I can totally trust you guys right?" Hope asked with big eyes and the two men both agreed instantly.

"Of course, completely." Angel said with a serious expression on his dead set face.

"Come on pet, d'you even have to ask?" Spike asked with a similar serious expression on his face. These two responses made Hope smile slightly and seem to glow because of the fact that there were two guys that were standing right in front of her that she could trust so completely.

"Something happened... A few years ago. There was this girl, called Jess, she was the daughter of my dad's best friend, though I didn't know it when I first met her. From when we first met we acted like sisters, totally ragging on each other and messing around with each other and teasing each other. But she, unlike her dad, was completely hopeless when it came to vampires. One time we went out to the movies together and we were walking home when four vampires surrounded us. I dusted three of them in longer than you would think, all I had was a stake. While I was busy with those three, the fourth came around behind us... And... He bit her. She screamed and I turned. I staked him in a second but she... She was dead... And I killed her, because I didn't save her. I should've been more careful, I should've looked around, or payed more attention, or I don't know... But I shouldn't have let her die..." Hope built up more and more emotion as she went on and then said the last sentence on the verge of tears.

Both of the men looked at each other and then pulled Hope into a big bear hug that was actually more of a group hug between the three of them. She sobbed silently into the hug and both of the vampires with souls felt the sobs start to dissipate and they hoped that she would be okay. They both knew just how bad guilt could be, not that Hope really deserved to have the guilt.

Then Hope seemed to tense up and the two vampires withdrew, feeling the change in her and looked at her in concern. Hope seemed to take an uncertain breath into her and then her eyes lifted themselves to a spot between the two vampires and all that they could see was confusion. Then she spotted the peroxidised vampire and stared at him, her eyes practically bugging out.

"Spike? You're alive?"

TBC

So, looks like Faith's back in Faith's body and Hope's probably back in hers. Hope the explanation wasn't too weird. Review and I'll update as soon as possible.


	13. Chapter 12: Tired

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Short chapter, sorry about that. More just something to get all four people, two vampires with souls and two slayers in one room. Previous two chapters have been decent lengths so this one gets to be short. Hehe. Bad, bad cold. XD And, of course Hope's back in her body. Cos otherwise I reckon I'd get too confused about who's in who's body and who has who's memories and etc. Even writing that made me confused and confusion? Not a good look on me. So, on with the less confusing story, I hope.

Chapter 12: Tired

"Well yeah pet, you know that..." Spike started and Angel stopped him with a hand up, mostly because Spike himself was confused and willing to stop himself at that point in time. He took a step towards Faith who, in turn, took an unsure step back, not really looking at him.

"Faith?" Angel asked gently and Faith looked up at him, as if really seeing him for the first time. Relief swept over her face until that was all that was there left, confusion had left it completely.

"Angel?" She asked and the end of Angel's lips twitched in a slight smile and he nodded. Faith smiled gladly and then collapsed, completely tired and worn out. The last thing she could remember was falling into blackness and being caught by strong arms and a feeling of peace washing over her.

Meanwhile...

Hope opened her eyes and looked around, panicking. There were three people in her eyesight. Buffy, a red head who seemed strangely familiar, that's right, Willow was her name and a young brunette, Dusk or Dawn or something like that, with a curious expression on her face.

"Hope? Can you remember being you?" Buffy asked and Hope just looked at her with a 'You're a weirdo' expression on her face.

"Um, yeah. What're you..." Hope stopped mid question as she shifted and felt her duster. She looked down at it and sighed heavily in relief. She tugged it closer to her and closed her eyes in bliss. She muttered a 'Thank God' under her breath and the beginnings of a smile crept onto her face. Then she remembered where she was. She opened her eyes and looked at the three females crowding her.

"So, you remember everything?" Willow asked and Hope nodded.

"Yeah, where's Faith?" She asked, hoping it wasn't the answer she thought it was going to be. She was out of luck.

"Where you last were before you were here." Buffy answered and Hope immediately got up, making all of the three girls back up immediately, and went to leave. Buffy stopped her with a hand on her arm and she just looked at it with this withering gaze that travelled up her arm and to her face. Buffy actually winced.

"You're injured." Buffy said, gesturing vaguely at her bandaged head. Hope reached up to the back of her head and returned with blood on the tips of her fingers. She stared at it for a moment, rubbing it between her thumb, pointer and middle fingers, and then left. Completely uncontested by any other person in the room.

"What just happened?" Buffy asked and turned to the other two who just shrugged. Unsure, as much as Buffy, themselves.

Hope sprinted to the spot where she last was with Angel and Spike. They were nowhere to be seen and Hope panicked. Faith had seen Spike, what if she told Buffy? Hope knew that Faith would do anything to erase her past and getting Buffy to forgive and forget was a huge part of that. Buffy was the one person who had understood her, if only for a moment, for the first time since the twins had been separated and she was the one person who was closest to the train wreck that Faith went through. In Faith's mind Buffy was the one and only person who could give her redemption from her acts.

Hope loved her sister to death but she knew what desperation could make people do. She'd experienced it enough to know.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on Faith. She felt herself tap into something. Something that she'd tapped into recently. A connection. To all the Potentials and the two Slayers. It was so powerful that it sent her into a coma the first time she'd tapped into it. This time she didn't go nearly as far as she tried to the first time. This time it was just one thing she was looking for. Faith. She felt out for Faith and felt this whoosh as she saw a blurry picture that looked vaguely like...

The foyer of a hotel a few blocks away.

Then she started sprinting again.

Angel walked over quickly to a lounge in the hotel foyer and lay Faith down on it, transferring her from his arms. Spike looked around swiftly before looking back at Angel who straightened up and stood over Faith protectively. He turned to face Spike but was still in 'guard' mode over Faith.

"Why don't you get her up to your room?" Spike asked, jutting his chin out at the passed out Faith on the couch and Angel didn't reply to his question.

"Get Hope." Angel said, short and sweet being the objective. Spike looked at him and, for a moment, looked like he was going to flame up and refuse to obey Angel but then he remembered that this was Hope, his Hope, and left with a nod and a serious grim look.

Spike got outside and sniffed the night air for a second and started to walk. Then... BAM! He and Hope crashed smack bang into each other, and it hurt because Hope had been sprinting and Spike had been starting to walk fast. They fell back and sprawled onto the sidewalk, Spike in front of the hotel and Hope on the roadside. The people walking around at that time at night avoided them, not offering either one a hand to get up. Not that they were in the right shape to be able to grab a hand, with them seeing double and everything.

Each party shook their head, trying to regain their bearings, and single vision. Then it dawned upon each party exactly who the other party was. Then they both jumped up and got to business, the single vision no longer a problem. (Imagine this next bit of small dialogue in one of those 'tense' shots were the camera circles around inside, up at the characters. Eg 'A Hole in the World' before they all go out to try and save Fred.)

"Faith?" Hope asked.

"Inside." Spike answered, fast and simple for once in his life.

"With Angel?" Hope asked again.

"With her." Spike answered and Hope nodded.

"Let's go." Spike nodded at this and so they both walked briskly back through the elegant hotel's doors and to where Angel was sitting on a chair, opposite Faith, his eyes never leaving her.

When Hope spotted the two of them she broke into a jog and Angel turned to see her and then stood as she approached. Hope stopped in front of Faith and smiled, gladness shining through a mask of tiredness. Spike was right behind her and she turned to him, barely standing.

"Spike?" She asked weakly, looking as if she was hanging on by a thread.

"Yes pet?" He asked, concerned at the fact that she hadn't used his nickname.

"I'm so tired..." She trailed off and then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed into Spike's arms.

Spike grunted softly as he caught her. Her head lolled on her neck that had gone slack. He bent down to pick up her legs and then had her in the 'crossing the threshold' pose and looked at Angel who quickly picked up Faith in a similar fashion and they headed to the elevators and up to Angel's room where they lay the sisters on the king sized bed and went into the room with the huge table. Then they sat down, trying to figure out exactly what had happened and what they would do next.

TBC

Writing this during Maths! Hehe. Did I mention that I love Angel and Spike? Of course I love them equally and for practically entirely different reasons. Hope and Faith are returned and Faith is let in on Spike's secret next chapter. Read on to discover her reaction. Hehe, love messin with 'em! Review if the mood strikes you.

JB


	14. Chapter 13: Prophecies, Legends and Spel...

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: This chapter is respectfully mentioning the late Pope's death. I mean absolutely no disrespect to anyone and please forgive me if you find it offensive.

Chapter 13: Prophecies, Legends and Spells

Hope woke up first. She was curled up and opposite Faith who was in the same position. She lay there for a few seconds before realising that the pain in her head had been replaced with a tingly feeling. She reached up and lifted the bandage off, as she would a sweat band, and reach around to touch where the wound was. All there was, was dried blood now. Thank god for fast healing.

She rolled over so that she could get to the edge of the bed and sit up but she'd overestimated where the edge was and fell onto the floor with a yell and a thump, taking the blanket with her, off the bed, and her twin. This woke Faith who, after a moment of confusion, crawled over to the edge of the bed and peered over it to see Hope struggling to disentangle herself from the blanket she'd dragged off with her when she fell. Then Faith cracked up. She had an insult on the tip of her tongue (It went something like: I guess you don't need me to get you out of bed, hey little sis? You drag yourself onto the floor now.) but was laughing too hard to be able to say it.

Spike ran into the room and, surveying the situation quickly, began to laugh himself. Hope looked up at him from the floor with such a death glare that he stopped, biting his cheek really hard to keep the laughs in. Then, a few seconds later, was practically rolling on the floor shaking with laughter, obviously not being able to hold it in. Then, after ten minutes, he managed to start to stop and was on his last laughs when...

Hope leapt to her feet, having disentangled herself from the blanket, and looked at him with a dangerous expression on her face. Spike's eyes widened.

"Uh oh." Was all he said before Hope started towards him and he turned and sprinted into the other room, Hope hot on his heels.

So that was how the morning was spent until Angel arrived half an hour later. All three of them tearing around the dark, huge hotel room. Hope always in pursuit and the other two laughing and yelling as they ran away from the furious girl.

They finally stopped when Angel arrived and was run into by an extremely fit girl who had managed to sprint for half an hour straight. Hope.

"Hope." Angel said and looked at Hope with a raised eyebrow after she bounced off of his solid figure and just about crashed into the door he just entered through and he stood opposite her. Hope nodded at him, panting only slightly.

"Ace." She replied and then Spike and Faith came tearing into the room, laughing their heads off. They both stopped when they spotted Angel and Faith bent over, panting heavily whilst still laughing between wheezes.

"Damn," Faith wheezed, "I really gotta stop smoking."

"Damn right you bloody well do." Hope said and stepped into their view from behind Angel. Spike smirked at her as everyone, except Faith who was doubled over struggling to breath, noted her choice of words. Course that means that, besides Spike, only Angel noted her choice of words but hey, he's a definite noter. Words or no.

"Tonight we're getting you two back to Buffy and the gang. Okay?" Angel asked and the twins just looked at him and agreed very quietly, it was obvious that they would've preferred to just stay where they were with their two favourite vamps, and people, in the world but that wasn't possible. Angel noted their quietness and knew that they didn't really want to go so he went into logical, moving speech mode.

"Look, I know that you two don't want to go back there. It's understandable. But you have to face your fears, you have to do things you don't want to sometimes. And sometimes things go a lot better when you do. If you go back there then you know that there's a place where you can be safe, a place where you can totally trust the people around you. I can't think of a better ally to have than Buffy."

"Screw allies, I feel safer here with you guys than cramped in that house that's falling apart with the potentials that are dropping like flies." Faith said and got a shocked, or at least vaguely surprised, expression from the two vampires.

"What's that love?" Spike asked and Hope replied.

"Oh, you didn't know? Two slayers died the last time we were both reasonably normal. That was what sent me into this frenzy and into a coma and eventually ended me up in Faith's body." Hope explained with a slightly flip manner that she expected Looks for but didn't get any. The two vampires had immediately become involved in their own thoughts and Faith wasn't exactly the type to go around giving Looks.

"Slayers dying..." Spike started.

"Coinciding with the Pope's death..." Angel continued.

"Bloody hell." Spike finished off as the two vampires looked at each other, truly worried.

"What's bloody hell?" Faith asked and Hope nodded and repeated the question,

"Yeah, what's bloody hell?"

"At the firm we got information that the some of the Pope's blood samples had been stolen from the hospital, not really something that made the press because it seems quite unimportant but if potentials are being killed..." Angel started only to be interrupted by Miss Impatient, Hope herself.

"Okay, still not getting it here." Hope said and Spike took over explaining.

"There's a story, well more of a legend really, that Jesus was attacked by a vampire. But after drinking one single drop of his blood the vampire died. It's a bit like this with drinking the Pope's blood. 'Cept that you have to drain all of him before dying. Drinking a single drop will give you a hall of a stomach ache but. It's the opposite of drinking a slayer. The pope's the holiest person around and the slayer's the most demonic one around."

"Best of both worlds." Hope muttered and Spike agreed.

"Tha's right pet, that's what this whole spell legend is about. There's a legend of this really old spell that all vampires know about. Even though most of us reckon it's a load of absolute rubbish there's a group that believes it."

"What spell?" Faith said, her and Hope getting a bit annoyed with the two vampires with souls who wanted to be 'narrator's and were taking the long way around to get to the point.

"If the pope's blood is mixed with the blood of thirteen slayers and you feed it to a person who has just been drained of most of their blood then they will become a super vampire." Angel continued on with the explanation and Faith interrupted him at the mention of the 'super vampire'.

"You mean like that über vamp we fought in that fight against the First?" Faith asked and Spike shook his head, more in the know at this point than Angel about exactly what she was talking about.

"No, a bloody hell of a lot worse. He'll be like the devil with super powers. A vampire, with ten times the strength of an über-vamp, having control over all other creatures of the night, he can to tear through dimensions, has the powers of the most powerful and evil sorcerer ever known, a necromancer. Worse'n an ascension..." The twins let Spike ramble on in his self important tone before cutting in at this particular moment.

"Okay..." Hope said.

"We get it..." Faith continued.

"No need to rub it in." Hope finished and Spike looked at the two twins and raised his eyebrow at Angel. Angel just shrugged back at him. Hope and Faith had gotten even closer to each other after they'd swapped memories, so much so that it was really getting to be scary.

"So is there any thing that can repel this guy?" Faith asked, "What's his bad?"

"He isn't going to be repelled by crosses or holy water or even hallowed ground." Angel said, a certain tone of apocalypse-ishness in his voice.

"Sunlight?" Hope asked, hoping that sunlight was still on their side.

"Course, super vampire can still burst into flames." Spike said and Hope sighed in relief.

"Thank God." Faith said.

"So He gets all of the thanks but we, the lowly vampires with souls, get nothin' for bein Mr and Mrs Knowledge." Spike asked and Hope moved next to him patted him on the back.

"No, you get no thanks cos you're Mr and Mrs Messenger of Bad News." She explained and put her arm around him before continuing, "Don't worry, we still love you but." That elicited protests from everyone else in the room about exactly how much they 'loved' Spike, Faith moving next to Angel, protesting explicitly, and Hope glared at them before saying.

"Fine. But I still love you." Hope said and Spike looked down at her.

"Really?" He asked and Hope grinned widely.

"Always have, always will." She said and smiled up at him. He grinned and gave her a quick squeeze of a hug.

"Who's the Mrs by the way? Just curious." Hope asked Spike and he grinned widely at Angel who looked at him with one of those dark, piercing, dangerous looks.

"I believe the magnificent poof over there knows the answer to that and that's enough for me." Spike replied smugly, looking at Angel whilst he replied. But instead of 'sinking to Spike's level' Angel chose to be the better man and ignore him and continue to talk about the ominous thought of the super vampire who would probably destroy the world.

"There's a prophecy that with this pope's death that all hell would break loose." Angel said and everyone looked at him. But it wasn't the 'Oh god, you're pissing me off shut up already' look, it was the 'Oh crap, we're in deep shit' look. Then Angel grimaced at the looks and added, "But then who really believes prophecies." Angel then shot Spike a look and Spike grimaced in return.

"Only twelve have been killed." Hope said, looking off into space at a spot on the wall behind Faith and Spike.

"Twelve? Last time I checked it was only..." Faith started and then was cut off by Hope looking at her and knew that in this instance Hope was right. Hope then returned her gaze to looking off into space, looking like she was concentrating really hard. Her arm dropped from Spike to her side and he took his arm off of her shoulder to curb all of his attention towards her with a worried expression on his face.

"He's searching for a thirteenth one right now. He's so close. She's right there. On the curb. She looks around, unsure. He's behind her. He can feel the power. It's so strong. It's emanating from her. You can almost touch it... Oh god, he has a knife. Watch out! No!" Then came a gasp and then a victory dance and what could be thought of a jump for joy coupled with a victorious, "Yes!" That confused all present as Hope went into what could be described as 'spectator' mode.

"I'm guessing the potential is alright." Faith said and the two vampires could only nod and hope. Then Hope began to copy moves, that is punches and blocks and ducks as she danced on the balls of her feet. Then came a big windup and a punch that looked like one of those knockout punches that wins boxing championships.

Then Hope stopped looking off into space and returned to look at the other three people in the room.

"What?"

TBC

You know I'm kinda wondering when this thing is gonna end. Argh! Hehe, nah. I reckon the first chapters maybe all the way to chapter four was introduction and from now on I'm going to try and have more action. Action, action, action. Broken up by some dancing and sisterly bonding. And some tragic, heartbreaking dialogue between Angel and Buffy. But that's later on. I have a feeling there will be a sequel to this. But it's just a feeling so don't get your hopes up. Til next time.

JB


	15. Chapter 14: Job Well Done

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope and their dad and Cobalt and Jess and so many other things... Not really... But yeah...

Author Notes: Important flashback and (gasp!) Faith opens up. To Spike, of all people. I would've guessed it would've been Angel if you'd asked me previously but the situation with Spike was just too perfect. Review if you want a say in Spike's path ahead.

Chapter 14: Job Well Done

"I guess Miss Unlucky-meant-to-be-the-thirteenth-killed is alright then?" Faith asked and Hope grinned widely.

"Hell yes. She kicked his ass." She said, making it as if every word was in a new sentence of their own, just to stress exactly how much kicking of respective asses happened.

"Nice." Faith said and they gave each other a high five, "Go her."

"Totally, you should've seen her. Bam, bam, jab, bam. Whoo! That guy is gonna be out of the game for a while." Hope said, clearly on a high over the triumph of Potential over mean guy who wants to destroy the world.

"Hey, a thought occurring. If this super vampire's still killed by sunlight then doesn't that mean that I can kill this guy with one shot?" Hope said, getting both her guns out in one quick fluid movement and twirling the two of them on the respective hands like in the Westerns. Then she demonstrated by miming shooting Angel and Spike and making 'bang, bang' noises along with it.

"Uh yeah sure," Spike said pushing the barrel of the gun away with his forefinger, "If you can get to him. He's gonna have more armies that any previous army."

"Bigger than the First's?" Faith asked, incredulously.

"This guy can make the dead rise and use their bodies as armies, so yeah." Spike said and they all really weren't looking forward to that fight if they ever had to come to that bridge.

"I should take you back to Buffy's." Angel said and Hope looked at him, completely deflated.

"What?" She asked him with the big doe eyed look that Willow had so down pat. Angel nodded to the next room and they both left for it.

"What? Why?" Hope asked, a completely hurt expression on her face.

"You asked for help and now you're better. Although, not really getting the why of that."

"The dust settled again. You know how I said that memories had been stirred, well they've settled. Thanks for the reminder." Hope said, hurt laced through her words and marring her face. She continued with unshed tears weighing heavily on her voice, making it quieter and deeper, "Please, don't leave Ace." Angel looked at her, unbridled sorrow playing across his features.

"I'm sorry Hope..." Hope interrupted him, getting close to hysterical.

"You don't understand. Everyone leaves me, please... don't." Tears threatened more and Angel found that he couldn't talk and Hope rushed on, "Jess, Cobalt, my dad." She sobbed. At this Angel couldn't take it anymore and stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. She turned her head sideways and continued, her head resting in his chest.

"We were in the hospital. I can remember it now as if it was yesterday..."

Flashback-

Hope was sitting in a chair by her dad's bedside. Her feet were up on a chair that was in front of her, both of them sideways to the hospital bed. Her dad was asleep and the little heart monitor beeped away in a steady pace. Hope felt her eyelids grow heavier by the beep. Her head dropped and she woke up instantly. She looked at her dad and was alert again... For about a second. She felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier and heavier...

She was standing in a cemetery. It was a funeral. She saw herself crying silently, tears making their way down her cheeks and joining the others that were already there. A black veil covered her face, her attempt at hiding her grief. It didn't work.

The funeral finished and she was the only one left. She saw her other self kneel in front of the grave and kiss her finger which she then pressed onto the recent grave. One more silent tear escaped her eye and made its way to her jaw and then dropped onto the grave, next to her finger.

Up till this point Hope hadn't been able to see the head stone and then she saw it. It read:

William Peter Winters

25 December 1964-13 April 2001

Beloved Father, Friend and Teacher

Hope was woken up by a long beep that filled the room. All of a sudden it was filled with people, doctors nurses. Too many, too many people. She stood up and was pushed to the back of the room. She struggled to get a glance of her dad. Just a glance. A glance of the hospital bed. Of her dad lying there.

In one single second she knew. She knew what she'd seen was true. In one second a tear ran down her face silently as she kept being jostled back. In one single second her world fell apart as she watched the one person that she loved try to be revived again and again but to no avail. In one second she lost all of her senses and slid down the wall that she'd been shoved into and let them come.

Let the tears come.

End Flashback-

Hope sobbed into Angel's chest and moved her head so that she buried herself in his chest. And she just let herself cry freely into the vampire's expensive black shirt and he let her.

In the other room the uncomfortableness was reaching boiling point. The slayer and vampire looked at each other before looking at the ground. Both of their hearts had broken for Hope when she told the story of how her father had died, that day in the hospital room.

"So your last name's Winters huh?" Spike said, not really sure what to say so saying something that had no real purpose to it seemed to be the best thing to say.

"Yeah." Faith said quietly and Spike nodded.

"It's a nice name. Faith Winters." He said, desperately trying to bury any of the sorrow and potential tears relating to the story that had made him aware of Faith's last name in the first place. Faith looked at him, catching onto the why of the conversation and playing along. Anything to hide the pain, something that Faith knew a little about. Hiding pain, that was. And, although she didn't know it, she knew nothing about it. She always managed to offload it onto Hope when it was too much for her. One of the reasons that Hope was more open with the crying, she had more to deal with.

"Yeah, it is."

"Polar opposite to Buffy in more'n one way, hey?" Spike said, growing bolder with the amount of flippancy he put in his speech.

"I reckon we're polar opposites in all ways." Faith said, chuckling slightly and smirking and Spike joined her almost immediately. Then, all of a sudden she stopped.

"What are we doing Spike?" She asked and sighed. He looked at her, concerned at her sudden change.

"What? What? What are we doing?" Spike asked, playing the lost person very well.

"We're avoiding the subject. We're talking about completely unimportant things to cover up... Y'know... Stuff." Faith explained and Spike caught on about halfway through and sighed heavily himself.

"I know, we're doing the same thing that normal people do when they see a vampire. We're trying not to think about what just happened... What we just heard." Spike said, still treading lightly.

"And we're not normal people. I'm a Slayer and you're a vampire. We shouldn't shy away from things like normal people. Face your demons right?" Faith said and Spike nodded.

"Right." He said and then asked, "So, we gonna talk this out or stand here uncertainly?"

"I was thinking standing here uncertainly for a few minutes and then rush into talking with me all of a sudden talking about my dad." Faith said, nodding and Spike nodded. Then they stood there in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, standing there uncertain of how to start it off for real and then Faith started it off with talking about her dad.

"I didn't even know him that well. He and Hope left when I was ten. It was the middle of the night and he'd already taken Hope into the car when he came back for me. When he said that we were leaving mom behind I refused to go, made such a racket that he had to leave cos my mom was getting up. He kept trying to come and get me a few weeks later but I always refused to go. He finally gave up when I said that I didn't want to see him or Hope ever again and that I hated them both. My mom died not too long after that and I was taken in by my Watcher. Abby." A slight smile came to Faith's face when she said her watcher's name and continued to talk about her,

"Abby was your standard watcher, stuffy English snob," She looked at Spike apologetically, "No offence," He raised his hands, none taken, and she continued, "The sorta person who grows on you. After the first couple of years we were as close as anything. We were like mother daughter, you know what I'm saying? We were that close. Not that my actual mom and me were that close. Kakistos killed her five years after I'd met her. If you can call it killing. He..." Faith didn't have the words to continue so she diverged back to the topic at hand, "She was the second person who I ever truly loved. The first was Hope."

"Wow," The two of the people in the foyer of the hotel room turned to see Hope and Angel standing in the doorway to the other room, Hope being the person who was able to actually say something in her state of blown-away-ness, unlike the other two. She continued with a slight smile and red puffy eyes from previous crying, "I didn't know you could be so corny sis."

Faith looked at her for a second and then walked across the room and wrapped her arms around her in a hug and, after a moment of just silent hugging, said into her hair, "Comes with the job descrip." To this Hope chuckled into her sister's hair and replied,

"Job well done sis. Job well done."

TBC

Okay, I knew I said there was going to be action and everything but I figured that since I'm having all of these other flashbacks I should have one to one of the most heartbreaking things in Hope's past. Also laying down some more information for y'all to reference back to when I choose to make something that you all believe completely wrong and something else entirely. If you wish to submit the fact that I'm evil, get in line. Not sure when the incredibly sad and heartbreaking Angel Buffy chat will happen. Unfortunately Spike will not be meeting up with the Buffster, I'm trying to decide if I should set him down another road altogether. I will consult everyone who reviews this chapter what they think I should do, informing only them on the path that I'm wondering if I should take him down. So review if you want a say in Spike's future. Later.

JB


	16. Chapter 15: Dancing

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope. I do not own Mario either or his songs. If I owned Mario what would I do…. Ooh the possibilities.

Author Notes: Mario si mentioned here. I think this recent obsession is due to the recent buying of his album by me. The song mentioned is never actually named but I think it would be 18 or Boom. And if you're obsessively into BuffySpike might not want to read the very end of this chapter. Or the next one.

Chapter 15: Dancing

They both withdrew from the hug and grinned mischievously at each other, first in a line of many others. The first time in what would turn out to be a long line of mischievous looks that would worry the people around them. Sure enough the two vampires looked at each other, worry playing across their faces. Who knew what theses two could do when they were put together.

That night they went out slaying, Hope doing most of it with her two guns that she'd picked up from the cemetery which had been left where she'd dropped them. She hugged them to her when she got them, getting weird looks from the two vampires , okay just one Spike looked at her with less of a 'you're weird' expression and something else that no one present could describe. Faith just looked at her understandingly and Angel was the one who shot her a very subtle 'You're weird' expression.

After Hope's admission of her fear Angel had decided that they could deal with the threat of the super vampire. At least for the moment. The next time that Hope felt that another potential was being threatened they were going straight to Buffy and getting help. Until then the twins had rein over the vampire, knowing that they could bend each to their will. Faith could bend Angel's and Hope had Spike around her little finger.

Then, after Hope let Faith battle her own vamp Faith leapt up, next to Hope.

"How's that?" Faith asked and Hope made some noises that can be used to describe something that was alright but can be better. Faith looked at her.

"Aw, come on." Faith whinged and Hope shrugged. Faith rolled her eyes and then all of a sudden turned to Hope, all annoyance gone.

"Let's go dancing." Faith said suddenly and Hope turned to her, surprised at the sudden change of mood.

"Huh?"

"Dancing, you still know what that is right?" Faith asked and Hope rolled her eyes.

"Nah I'm totally clueless." Hope shot back sarcastically.

"You are?" Faith asked, falling into the trap, "Thought you had my memories…" This caused Hope to roll her eyes again.

"Yes, I do. I was being sarcastic." Hope explained slowly and deliberately, as if she was talking to a completely clueless person, which Faith was. She continued, "You know, sarcasm." This time Faith rolled her eyes.

"I knew that." She said and Hope was about to say something but she just shut her mouth. She was feeling sorry for the poor girl. Hehe, but she would use it later on to taunt her twin and she grinned to herself as she thought of this.

"So dancing eh?"

"Eh." Faith said, and nodded her head slightly.

"Aitte," Hope said and both sisters turned their faces forward and had matching smirks on their faces, "Let's go rock some guys' world."

After a quick explanation to the two vampires about how they would continue 'patrolling' that night without them. They quickly left for a club that Faith was, by now, infamous. They each grabbed a drink and only had a few sips before a new dance song came on and they both looked at each other before, moving in sync turned from the bar and grinned before making their way onto the dance floor.

As they left the bar they threw each other matching mischievous looks as they made their way to the middle of the dance floor. When they reached what satisfied their wants they surrendered themselves to the music. They danced together, apart, whatever, and they were always surrounded by guys. Then they both made their way back to the bar, having scored free drinks of their respective drooling men.

Then a new song started and Hope began dragging Faith back to the dance floor, forgetting about their men. She was surprisingly strong and, although Faith fought it, she found herself get steadily dragged to the dance floor. Hope was proclaiming how much she absolutely love this song and Faith just threw evil looks at the girl dragging her whilst trying to figure out what song it was. And then it occurred to her.

When Hope stopped dragging, Faith looked at her twin incredulously as she started to throw her body around to the beat of the song. Then, realising Faith wasn't sharing her vigour she stopped and stared back at Faith.

'What?" She asked defensively.

"You like _this_ song?"

"Yeah." Hope said, nodding her head to the beat.

"Isn't this by…" Apparently Faith couldn't think of the name of the artist that upset her so much.

"Mario?" Hope inserted helpfully and Faith nodded wordlessly, unable to speak from being so incredibly shocked.

"Yes!" She said, finally summing up her feelings in a word filled with shock and almost disgust. Hope just looked at her disapprovingly.

"Well, unlike you, I don't like heavy metal." Faith just stared at her for a moment.

"We're not sisters." She said finally, with a heap of conviction. Hope grimaced at the amount of conviction her sister could pack in.

"Just cos I'm into R'n'B more than people screaming while playing their instruments really badly." She said and Faith's jaw dropped at Hope's blatant dissing of her favourite music genre.

"I don't even know you." She said and turned away stubbornly.

"Aw come on Faith, I'm sorry. Heavy metal isn't people screaming and playing their instruments very badly," Hope pleaded and Faith glanced at her over her shoulder and Hope continued, "it's people screaming and just playing their instruments _badly_. Not _very_ badly. Just badly." That made Faith stop glancing and turned back again, in a huff.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Come on Faith," Hope said, in a pleading voice, "I promise to never diss Heavy metal again. Come one Faith, I'm sorry." Hope begged and Faith decided to consider possibly looking at her over her shoulder. Hope looked at her with the 'big innocent puppy dog' look. Then, after seeing this look Faith melted. She turned her body around fully and Hope's puppy dog look turned into a hesitant smile.

"Alright, but if you ever insult Heavy metal again…" Faith trailed off threateningly and Hope held up her hands in surrender.

"I won't. I promise." Hope promised looking into her eyes and Faith knew that she meant it by the look in her eyes. Anyone else would've thought that they had a much more serious conversation from the look in Hope's eyes. Faith smiled at Hope and Hope's smile turned from hesitant to wide.

"So you like Mario." Faith said innocently and Hope saw the look that she had when she said that. It was forced.

"Uh, well…. Yeah. Kinda. Sorta." She said, only telling Faith with her eyes that she absolutely loved Mario. Faith did see it and she just nodded at Hope.

"Well, let's dance." She said as a new dance song came on and as Faith danced with Hope a thought came into her mind. _Hey, I know this song._

It was the song that she had danced with Buffy to and then later on in LA whilst bashing up the people around her.

The sisters crept into the hotel room, holding their boots in their hands. They were about halfway across the foyer when the light snapped on and Spike was standing there. Hope clutched her chest.

"Jesus Christ, Railroad. You scared the shit outtta me." Hope hissed at the vampire who was standing in the doorway to the bedroom. He gave up his stern parent look to snicker at her and she went over to him and swatted his arm. Faith looked at the two get into a scuffle with one eyebrow raised and she discerned something _very_ interesting. A certain _vibe_ from Spike. She grinned at made a note to mention it to Spike later.

They were still in that situation when Angel creeped into the room. He looked incredibly funny with his shoes in hand and trying to make his tall, well built figure as small as he could. Then he realised that there were three people staring at him. He met their eyes and then they cracked up and he was left looking incredibly stupid.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones out and about." Hope said, holding Spike in a head lock.

"He was at work." Spike grunted, speaking for Angel who looked like he was drunk and not sure exactly how to speak without sounding drunk. Then Spike struggled with Hope who kept her grip on him coolly.

"Really?" Faith asked and then walked up to Angel and sniffed, "Cos he smells drunk." He straightened up from his hunched up position which he had been in all this time.

"Well…." He said and swallowed before trying to talk again, "It was a meeting. And we had to drink. You know. A lot. Otherwise we'd offend the…. You know.. Clients." Angel said, slightly slurring and definitely swaying on his feet. A loud grunt cam from Spike and then he escaped the headlock and looked at him with an accusatory stare.

"Are you telling me I was stuck here playing Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart or some other pathetic housewife when you were all out drinking and partying?" He asked, almost getting to a stage were he seemed hurt. Hope patted him on the back reassuringly.

"If you're really good we'll take you next time Railroad." He looked at her and she grinned at him reassuringly and the start of a smile appeared. Faith grinned to herself. _Yup definite talk is needed later_, she thought. Then she made eye contact with Hope and a silent conversation seemed to pass between them and when they snapped out of it Hope did what Faith asked.

"I'll go get Ace cleaned up." Hope volunteered and went over to collect Angel who leaned heavily on her to the bathroom. Leaving Faith with Spike, for that talk.

"So Spike… You like Hope eh?" Faith asked, subtlety was never really her strong point. And Spike just stared at her wordlessly, a look of wonder on his face.

TBC

Hehe, the next chapter Faith's gonna play a little matchmaking. Just a bit, nudging of Spike. And then the rest is up to Spike who will o something incredibly sweet but also incredibly corny. Action is on hold for a while, as you probably have realised. For the romantics, your gonna love the next chapter.


	17. Chapter 16: Like Me Real Hard

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope. I do not own Mario either or his songs. If I owned Mario what would I do…. I'm sure I have cuffs in my room somewhere….. And just as a reassurance, I don't own Like Me Real Hard, sweet song tho.

Author Notes: And so my own obsession continues and is made to seem as if it is actually Hope's obsession. PS: Shout out to Freezyboncoolipants!

Chapter 16: Like Me Real Hard

"Whassat?" Spike asked, looking like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Faith chuckled and grinned evilly.

"You like Hope." She shook her head, "I should've spotted it earlier." Then she chuckled again to herself. Looking as if she was going through all the instances that Hope and Spike had been together in her mind, replaying them and confirming her thought. Her smirk widened and Spike's stomach sank as he realised that Faith had all she needed to now torture him incessantly. May as well surrender now. _Huh, I'm giving up so much easier these days_, he thought before confessing.

"Alright, fine. I admit. I… like her." He said, still a bit hesitant about the whole confession but he did admit it. Faith crowed and her smirk was intensified by the victorious look on her face.

"I knew it!" She crowed and Spike winced.

"You wanna say that any louder love?" He asked and Faith looked at him.

"She doesn't know." She said and Spike agreed with her, shaking his head at the statement that Hope hadn't realised that he liked her. Faith continued muttering under breath, "Damn she's like a freaking psychic with everything else but when it comes to something right in front of her she's fuckin' clueless." Spike caught her muttering and his lips pulled back into a bitter sweet smile.

"Do you really like her Spike?" Faith asked, looking as if something suddenly occurred to her. Spike nodded, his mouth had gone dry from the topic of conversation and he wasn't able to really speak at the moment. Pleased by his response she continued, "Okay then, come with me." She said suddenly and Spike followed her into the bedroom where Hope had left her leather jacket strewn on the bed before herding Angel into the bathroom.

She reached into one of the pockets and grimaced slightly before finding what she was looking for. A square plastic thing that can otherwise be described as MARIO'S ALBUM. She glanced towards the bathroom before hurriedly pressing it in Spike's hands. Then she herded him back to the foyer, as far away from Hope as possible.

"She loves that artist. For some reason his songs speak to her." She whispered to Spike and then shrugged, "Maybe you can use it to speak to her." Spike looked down at her, his gratefulness present in his eyes, making them shine.

"Thanks love." He said hoarsely, only recently being able to find and use his voice again. Faith smirked at him.

"Anytime _Railroad_." She said and he just ignored her dig.

"How do I…?" Spike trailed off and Faith sighed heavily before directing him to another room in the hotel suite and inserting it in the CD player that had come with the suite and then giving him some headphones which, luckily, came with the set. She saw his nose screw up slightly in the beginning, knowing that he was also a heavy metal lover she grimaced for him and watched his face as he listened intensely. Faith rolled her eyes and left him to it.

The things people would do for the ones they loved, or liked intensely in this case.

Hope walked out of the bathroom to find Faith lying on the bed. She fell onto the bed herself and sighed heavily. The sounds of a shower came from the bathroom attached to the bathroom and the twins just lay there. Silence falling like a blanket over the two of them.

"Angel gonna be alright?' Faith finally asked and Hope grunted.

"Yeah, it was a hard task but I finally got him into the shower." She replied and then asked Faith, studying the roof, "You take care of what you wanted to?" Faith grunted.

"Yeah." But she didn't bother to expand and hope was too tired to press on.

"So how come you're not with that guy who bought you a drink?" Hope asked and Faith shrugged.

"Dunno, he seemed alright I guess but since… Since what happened with Wood I'm kinda off guys. Especially the ones that act nice." Hope grimaced, she knew what Faith meant by 'what happened with Wood', then Faith asked, "Why aren't you with the guy who bought _you_ a drink?" Faith looked across at her for the first time. Hope shrugged.

"Dunno, I mean he seemed alright too. I guess, I just feel… Like I'm waiting for the right thing," She looked at Faith, "You know?" Faith started out nodding but then realised what she was doing and then changed it into shaking her head. Hope laughed at this and they both turned back to the fascinating ceiling.

"So this guy you're waiting for…" Faith began and Hope groaned, interrupting her.

"Don't even start." She groaned.

"What?' Faith asked innocently and that just deserved an eye rolling.

"Don't." She warned and Faith dropped it. Hope muttered under her breath, "God, you're turning into Aunt Choni." This caused Faith to look at her, shocked.

"What was that? I didn't hear you properly." Faith said and Hope played the innocent.

"Me? Nah, I didn't say anything." She said and Faith raised her eyebrows.

"I think you mentioned something about Aunt Choni…" She said and Hope's eyes widened.

"Why would I do that? Of course I didn't." Hope said, brushing it off.

"Did you mention your favourite aunt, Hope? Come on, you can tell me." Faith said and Hope made a noise halfway between a sarcastic snort and a 'huh'.

"Not my favourite aunt, I think last time you were the on who was all 'Oooh Aunt Choni! I love you! I love you so much!'" Accompanying her mock of Faith she made 'kissy' noises and moved to attempt to shower Faith with them. Faith just pushed her away with a hand on her face., laughing uncontrollably.

Two hours later Faith had left the hotel room to go and walk around Rome, something that Hope had recommended strongly and Angel was fast asleep in the bedroom, his snores could be heard throughout the suite and every so often Hope would snicker at the sounds pf the snores. Hope was finishing the food that she'd ordered from room service when Spike emerged from the other room. She smiled widely at him.

"Hey Railroad." She greeted him brightly and she indicated to the empty plate in front of her, "Hotel food is better than restaurant food I reckon." She set down the fork and got up and walked over to him.

"Hope." Spike said and Hope smiled up at him.

"Railroad." She said, mock formal. He looked like he was reaching into his mind and then he started to speak, all the time looking down into her eyes with a rare serious expression on his face.

"We've had such a great time  
In these past two months  
I never laughed so much  
In my life  
It's been all about us  
Since that time we had  
That intimate talk  
Suddenly your actin' strange  
Plus your conversation  
Just upped and changed  
Is it because your afraid  
What you feelin' for me  
Is the beginning of a  
New heart break?  
Hear me when I say

You ain't gotta  
Give me your love  
You ain't gotta  
Say I'm your one  
You ain't gotta  
Tell me where you be  
'Cause you ain't  
Obligated to me

I'm not sayin' that  
You should just  
Rush and give me  
Your heart  
I'm just askin' that you   
Like me real hard  
Just like me real hard

You know just like I know  
We've been broken by love  
We both need time to heal  
That's why  
In this short amount of time  
We've grown so close  
'Cause you relate to  
Everything I feel  
So let's not complicate things  
By placing titles on you and I  
But what we can do  
Before we make the next move  
We gotta find the perfect  
Reason why  
So believe me when I say

You ain't gotta  
Give me your love  
You ain't gotta  
Say I'm your one   
You ain't gotta  
Tell me where you be  
'Cause you ain't   
Obligated to me

I'm not sayin' that  
You should just   
Rush and give me  
Your heart  
I'm just askin' that you   
Like me real hard  
Just like me real hard

You ain't ready  
To fall in love  
And I ready to  
Care so much  
We ain't ready for commitment  
Right now  
But together we can   
Work something out

When the time is right  
Cause we will feel it in our hearts  
It will be written in the stars  
But for now  
Just like me real hard." Spike finished, only pausing a few times during the whole thing. Hope expression changed from playful to serious and at the end she had a poker face on. Spike looked down at her and then swallowed hard and quickly made his way to the door. He had suddenly adopted a shy and nervous persona.

"I'll just go now, hey pet. Sorry about that." He said, his eyes set firmly on the floor. Then he quickly walked past Hope and headed for the door. That seemed to make her wake up and she turned, calling out.

"Wait, Railroad." She said and Spike stopped and paused before turning to her. She closed the few steps space between them and looked up at him. He grimaced.

"Not sweet enough right?" He asked and Hope shook her head. He though for a second, not really looking at Hope at any point in time, as if he was really, really embarrassed. He then asked again, "Too sweet then?" Hope shook her head again as she looked up at Spike and put a hand on his chest. Spike looked down at her, fire passing between their eyes and Spike's eyes showed he was being affected as he felt the body heat from Hope's hand seep through his shirt.

"Just sweet enough." Hope said and she reached up to brush a surprised Spike's lips with her own.

TBC

Spike's so sweet! I wish I had a boyfriend like that! Now I'm jealous. I believe my weirdness has just been upped. Okay, hey Chonz if you're reading this. Might go into description of Aunt Choni later… hehe. Haven't eaten for 24 hrs, you think that's bad for me? Okay, gonna go downstairs to eat now. Cya guys.

JB


	18. Chapter 17: Slaying, Movies and Roofs

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope. And, of course, I don't own Underworld either. Or Romeo and Juliet. Or Moulin Rouge.

Author Notes: Sorry about the long time without updates, guys. I had a massive writer's block, plus Joss' words about not letting characters being happy for too long kinda reverberated in my mind. So to pay respect to his wise words, unfortunately, I will have to split up this couple who I think is one of the cutest I've ever pictured (besides Russ and Fred but people who haven't read 'Job Well Done' won't understand that).

Anyways, I'm doing one of those ever annoying time skips... Skipping forward a few weeks in time. So yeah... Um, that's all I have to say.

Chapter 17: Slaying, Movies and Roofs

Several weeks went by and it seemed that everything was perfect. Hope and Spike had grown inseparably close, Faith was settled in and enjoying the life of the rich, living of Wolfram and Hart. But Angel... Well, he'd grown detached and was now spending more time at the Italian Wolfram and Hart office than in the hotel room. Everyone knew that something big was going down, but Angel kept quiet about it and no one asked.

Now that the background has been laid out... On with the story at this later on point in time.

Faith was out. Hunting. Or slaying. Either term could be used. To tell you the truth, she really didn't want to be cooped up in the hotel room while Hope and Spike got all 'friendly'. Sure, she loved that they'd both found happiness in each other, but enough was enough.

Her having no man of her own was also starting to grate on her. But then she remembered why she didn't, and then she was no longer angry. Just depressed. And that was never a good place to be. Or a common one for Faith. And she didn't like the unfamiliarity and bad feelings brought on by it. So she preferred to avoid the whole thing by going out every night to slay some poor, sorry ass vamps.

She had just finished one off and was wiping off dirt on her jacket from when the vamp decided to get rough, when Buffy appeared from the shadows. Must be something she learned to do from Angel.

"Faith?" She asked and Faith jumped slightly and looked at Buffy.

"B? Shit, you almost gave me a heart attack. What're ya doing hiding in the shadows?" Faith asked and Buffy quickly stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight, towards Faith. A move that Faith countered with a step backwards. Buffy noted this and decided to take the less aggressive approach.

"I was watching you." Buffy responded and then blushed slightly as Faith gave her a once over with a look, "I mean, I was slaying. And then I heard a struggle. And it's too late for it to be the others, so I thought I'd check it out."

"And viola." Faith said, arms sweeping to the side of her, "Here I am."

"Faith, we've been worried about you. You just... Disappeared."

"We?" Faith asked, an attempt at stalling for a while. And also out of some curiosity.

"Everyone at the house." Buffy replied and Faith broke the eye contact. Damn, that girl could really give a death stare.

"Well, I'm sorry B. Me and Hope just had to get some air, ya know? The whole thing got a bit much." Faith said and Buffy softened her glare, not even realised that she had it in the first place or that she had lost it.

"Right." Buffy said, nodding but not believing it completely.

"Yeah." Faith said and there was an uncomfortable silence and Faith twirled her stake in between her fingers before tucking it in the back of her leathers.

"How's Hope?" Buffy asked, suddenly and Faith shrugged.

"She's good." Faith said, not wanting to elaborate in case something about Spike happened to slip out. And that wouldn't do any good for any person involved.

"And you?" Buffy asked and Faith looked at her, unsure of the point of this and a little uneasy.

"Five by five, B. Five by five." Faith said, humour playing in her eyes and Buffy smirked at her. Faith then asked, "How bout you, B?"

"Five by five." Buffy replied, her eyebrow slightly raised and they both smiled at each other. They had reached an understanding. Finally.

So that had to be the time that a vampire attacked. Of course they quickly finished it off. No muss, no fuss, after all. And during the fight, the understanding that they had reached was bonded. The movements they made were in sync and they seemed to connect on another level. One that was beyond any mental understanding, it was a physical bond, something made in the heat of the battle.

And in that moment, they were one.

Meanwhile…

Another two people where one. Of course, it was Hope and Spike. But not one in the very dirty sense. In the less dirty, more sweet sense. In other words they were kissing. And enjoying it. Hope pushed Spike back slightly and grinned at him.

"Not now Railroad. I really want to watch the movie." Hope protested and Spike groaned.

"C'mon pet, it's just a movie." Spike said and tried to achieve Hope's attention through other means.

"Railroad, it's my _favourite_ movie. I love it." Hope said, trying to return the wandering hands to the owner.

"Aww, come on pet." Spike whinged, but Hope shook her head firmly, eyes glued to the screen. The lack of attention annoyed Spike and he grumbled to himself, "It's not as if it's even true or anything. Stupid Hollywood."

"Railroad!" Hope said and hit him on the chest lightly, "The gun idea they came up with was true though." Hope said, and thought about that for a second.

"Well yeah, but the vampires are done all wrong. I mean, look how they die. So many bloody special effects. What happened to the ashes? And the stake, and the non reflection, and the hate of all things holy. And don't even get me started on the werewolves." Spike complained about the lack of truth in the movie and Hope chuckled lightly.

"Y'know I'm surprised that someone who is so supernatural himself, can't watch a movie that is meant to be about supernatural things that aren't meant to be true, without keeping quiet." Hope said, eyes still on the screen.

"How's that, pet?" Spike asked, clearly lost. Hope just shook her head and sighed.

"Don't worry, just shush." Hope said and Spike did so. Finally.

So they sat there, enjoying (well Hope enjoyed anyway) the rest of the movie. With only a small amount of interruption from Spike, when he protested that there was no way werewolf and vampire blood could be mixed. The movie, Hope's favourite, was of course 'Underworld'. When the movie ended Spike grabbed Hope's hand and pulled her along, urging her to follow him.

"C'mon pet, I want to show you something." Spike coerced and Hope gave in.

"Ok, ok, what is it?" She said and followed him to the balcony. He opened up the doors and Hope followed him out to the balcony, hesitantly. She didn't exactly know what was happening and was a touch scared of what was going to happen next. Spike took her to the very edge of the balcony and Hope was suddenly very aware that they were on the penthouse and that they were many levels above the street below. Spike got up on the quite thick cement fence and Hope looked up at him as if he was crazy.

"Spike! What are you doing?" Hope exclaimed and Spike reached up to the roof which was just within his reach and hoisted himself up, and onto the roof landing. Then his head popped over the side and grinned down at Hope.

"C'mon up pet, the view's amazing." Spike said and Hope sighed heavily. She climbed onto the cement fence, and couldn't help but peer down at the street and took a deep breath before reaching up for the roof, where Spike was crouching over, smiling and urging her up. Hope rolled her eyes and hoisted herself up, grunting slightly as she did so. Spike pulled her up the last little bit and she half fell into his arms.

"Couldn't we have just taken the stairs?" Hope asked, slightly puffed, and also slightly annoyed.

"This is more fun." Spike said and grinned. Hope shot him a look and Spike just took her hand in his and led her along the roof, just past the stairs to a part of the roof that hadn't been visible to them before. Then Hope gasped and all annoyance left her. He had set up a picnic, blankets, basket and all. Hope squeezed Spike's hand and he squeezed right back. Spike led her to the blanket and then sat down on it and patted the spot next to him. She joined him with a smile on her face.

"You did this?" Hope asked, slightly unbelievingly and Spike grinned.

"Yeah." He replied and she smiled at him.

"Just when I think I have you figured out… You go changing on me again, Railroad." Hope said, shaking her head and Spike chuckled.

"I'll take that as a good thing."

"You should." Hope said and they looked at each other silently. Then Spike broke the silence by lying back, folding his arms under his head. Hope moved to his chest and lay her head on him. He smiled gently and stroked the top of her head.

"There's something I have to tell you, pet." Spike said and paused. Hope looked up at him, curiosity in her eyes.

"What is it, Railroad?" She asked, sitting up slightly as she did. He grimaced as she did so, half missing the heat, half nervous about what he was about to say.

"Things, these past few weeks have been… Incredible, to say the least. And, I know what I said before and all, but… Things have changed." Spike said and swallowed hard. Hope felt her stomach sink and interrupted him, tears weighing down on her voice.

"Are you breaking up with me?" She asked and Spike looked at her, shocked.

"What? No! Of course not, pet. I would never… Why would you think that?" He asked, incredulous at the suggestion. Hope felt relief flood her system and shrugged.

"I dunno, it's just… You were giving me the 'It was great while it lasted but it was only a fling' speech." Hope said and was starting to feel silly because of the completely disbelieving look that Spike was giving her.

"Pet," He began softly, "I would never dream of doing that to you. Ever. I could never do anything to hurt you. What I'm trying to say is… I love you."

"I can't do this Railroad," Hope turned away as she said this but then turned back to see his hurt face, "I love you too and I can't help it and I can't stop and I just keep getting deeper and deeper... I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Why not? Why can't you get deeper and deeper? It's part of falling in love." Spike sat up completely and Hope moved to the far side of the blanket.

"Because I'm not ready to. I'm scared." Hope said and Spike reached out to her but withdrew when he saw her flinch.

"I'm not going to hurt you, pet." Spike said, meaning physically as well as mentally.

"I know, but I also know that I'm going to hurt you. Like I did last time. By doing this I'm hurting the person I love sooner rather than later. This way you might actually keep on existing." Hope dropped her gaze and said, quietly, "Unlike last time."

"Hope..." Spike started but Hope cut him off.

"No Railroad, not this time. It'll hurt less this way. Besides, what if Buffy found out? If she finds out there's no telling what might happen." Hope said, it was the one sore spot of the couple and Spike withdrew for a second before coming back with a rebuttal.

"Romeo and Juliet saw each other in secret. Why can't we? That's what we've been doing for the past few weeks." Spike said, grasping at straws.

"We don't have feuding families, we have your ex who happens to be the head Slayer who doesn't know you're alive. Me, who is a slayer who is the twin sister to second in command/rogue slayer and you who is a vampire with a soul who sacrificed yourself to save the world."

"Who cares about the past? Or the present? Or the future? We love each other just like Romeo and Juliet did."

"Yeah and then they killed themselves because of their love."

"Hope..."

"No. Spike," Hope was starting to get teary now, "I promised myself never again and I'm going to keep that promise. I'm so sorry." She went to stand up and then Spike stopped her with a hand on her arm. Her gaze travelled from his hand up his arm to his face. And then he grabbed her gently and kissed her passionately. When they separated Hope touched her lips gently and then looked at him.

"You kiss by the book." Hope said softly and the look of hope on Spike's face disappeared. Hope stood up and started to walk away slowly and paused for a second and risked a look at him, a tear making its way down her cheek, "Come what may, I will always love you, until my dying day." Then she suppressed a sob and ran off, tears coming steadily down her face and sobs shaking her chest.

Spike stood there, in shock. And then he realised that the girl he had fallen for so hard had just broken up with him because she loved him. He stared at the ground and then threw his head backwards and fell forward onto his knees howling.

"Noooo!"

Hope pumped her legs hard, rounding the stairwell and running down it, blindly away from where Spike was kneeling. It was true, it was all true, she loved him and she was scared. Scared of what would happen to him, and to her. She loved him so much and she never wanted to hurt him in the way that she'd hurt the last person she'd loved. That wasn't going to happen. And maybe someday the pain that she'd just caused the both of them would go away.

She reached the street and kept running. She just kept running.

She found a nest of vampires at a nearby cemetery and dusted them quickly. Then she lay down on top of one of the coffins and curled up into a foetal position. Then she hugged herself as tears ran down her face.

"I love you." She whispered, and then she closed her eyes and was asleep.

TBC

This chapter was actually longer but I decided to cut and move it to next chapter… Stay tuned for a moving speech from Faith which is uncomfortably like the one by Xander, not so much in content as context. So yeah.. Hope the chapter of my return from writer's block was alright.

Have a good one

JB


	19. Chapter 18: Helicopter Ride

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Shortish chapter… Sorry about that. This is the chapter that pays homage to Joss Whedon's words. Nuff said…

Chapter 18: Helicopter Ride

Hope woke up slowly, painfully. Her whole body ached, that probably had something to do with the fact that she'd spent the night lying on a stone coffin. She got up slowly, and stretched. Then everything that had happened the previous night came rushing back and she felt her body sag from sorrow. She had some doubts about what she did, but deep down, she knew that she did the right thing. Better to hurt him now than later. When it might be too late.

But that didn't stop the tears from flowing. Even when she thought she'd exhausted her supply they just kept coming. She quickly left the crypt and started jogging. Not for any reason in particular, just for the feeling of freedom it gave her. The feeling that for once life wasn't just passing her by, she was passing life by. Or at least matching its pace.

When the tears flowed more she ran faster, not wanting to catch the looks from the people around her. Soon enough everything was a blur to her, not only because of the tears, and the only thing she could feel was the wind on her face. And that was a good feeling. One of the best she'd had in a while. At least, since last night, anyways.

Then her freedom was interrupted when she crashed down onto someone of similar height, build and just about everything else. Faith. Hope rolled off Faith and got up slowly, trying to get her senses back. Faith shook her head from the ground and looked up at her sister, squinting, possibly because of the good knock that disoriented her very much.

"Sorry." Hope muttered and quickly wiped away the tears that were streaming down her face but not quick enough for Faith's keen eyes.

"What happened?" Faith asked, concerned, and Hope looked at her with puffy red eyes.

"I broke it off with Spike." She said, unshed tears making her voice thick.

"You what? I'm sorry, you whatted what what with what what?" Faith asked incredulously, figuring it was the huge whacking togetherness that had screwed with her hearing. Hope seemed to blush slightly and Faith figured that her vision had been screwed with too.

"I broke it off with Spike." Hope repeated quietly and winced automatically.

"I hope you meant that chastity belt you've been wearing since... Ever." Faith said in a threatening tone.

"No, and how did you know about the-?"

"I'm your sister Hope. I know."

"What do you know?"

"I know that your last time was such a long time ago that you can probably be classified as a virgin again."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I was hoping you would."

"And all those guys at the clubs?"

"Tests. So you broke it off with Spike and you still haven't gotten down and dirty. If you weren't my twin I'd wring your fucking neck Hope. I mean, how could you? You were so perfect for one another! What did he say something really bad like how you should tell B about you two? Cos that's the only thing that could give you any reason to do it." Faith did a gradual build up to a yell and looked like she'd imploded.

"I couldn't. I love him and he loves me. That's how people get hurt. Love makes you vulnerable." Hope said and then went for a shot below the belt, "That's how you got hurt." Faith managed to look incredibly angry and incredibly hurt at the same time and Hope regretted her words. Wood had been hard enough for her to get over without Hope sticking her foot in it.

"Spike would never hurt you Hope." Faith said sombrely, trying not to show the pain that the previous jab had caused her.

"But I could hurt him." Hope said quietly and this fired Faith up again.

"And now you have. Don't you realise that when you love someone you'll be alright as long as they're there beside you and that you know they love you back. Life is too short to be scared about hurt and pain. You fall, you cry and you get back up Hope. At least knowing that you've loved someone and that they loved you with the same passion gives you the strength to get back up. Death means nothing when you love someone. I thought you would've figured that out by now." Faith said and Hope was slightly blown away by this speech. She just stood there looking down at her twin, dumb founded.

"So are you ready to throw yourself into something that could change the rest of your life? Something that'll make you laugh, cry, love, hate, feel. Or are you a coward? Life isn't about playing it safe Hope, it's about the decisions we make and the risks we take. Ball's in your court Hope, you gonna take a risk or just sit back and regret it for the rest of your life?" Faith asked and Hope just looked at her. Then she gave Faith her hand and heaved her up to her feet. Faith brought Hope's face within a centimetre of her own.

"Come on little sis, I dare you." Faith said, a glint in her eye as she knew she'd pressed the right button.

"Have you ever known me to back away from a dare?" Hope asked and Faith shook her head so she continued a grin on her face, "Well let's continue that streak shall we?" Then Hope took off in the direction she'd come. Faith grinned like her sister.

"Someone's gonna get some." She said in a sing song voice and then walked off with a bounce in her step.

Hope ran faster than she did before and, not to be too corny but, she felt as if she was being powered by love. But there's more to Romeo and Juliet than the love, there's also the tragedy and this was what Hope was about to find out. But her mind was more on the fact that she was now ready for love for the first time in years and she was going to give her heart to the one guy who already had it before he ever asked or even before she ever knew. Spike.

Hope ran to the hotel and burst in the doors. Panting lightly, she sprinted over to the reception and caught her breath before talking to the maitre d' who looked at her as if she was something he'd scraped off his shoe. Hope flashed him a smile and then started.

"Hi, I'm a friend of Mr Spike who is currently staying in the penthouse apartment so if you could just give him a buzz for me..." Hope said and was interrupted by the mean maitre d' who was fluent in three different languages although in all those outside Italian he had an accent he was gradually trying to work it out although he secretly thought he sounded like a spy with it. Just a little titbit about my mean made up Italian maitre d' character.

"I'm so sorry," He didn't look sorry a bit, "But unfortunately 'Mr Spike' just checked out."

"Wh-What?" Hope said, all jokes, smiles and ability to speak aside.

"Yeah," The posh maitre d' allowed himself a moment of being an ill spoken dickhead (not that he wasn't usually a dickhead, he just usually did it with a posh Italian accent is all), "You just missed him. Too bad."

"Right." Hope said, not exactly caring about how much of an ill spoken dickhead he was being and concentrating on not falling to the ground and crying. She concentrated at a spot on the table and kept those damn tears at bay. But the receptionist saw them welling up in her eyes and a not often felt pang of sorriness crept through his emotional 'armour'.

"I'm sorry. He left a few minutes ago, he said he was taking his helicopter back to Los Angeles. He said that Rome wasn't sunny enough for him." Although for once he hadn't meant to, he actually hurt her more. Because of the inside joke that Spike had made and the overwhelming 'Spikeness' of the joke, it made Hope just hurt more. Hope grimaced at him, and the feeling that life was passing her by intensified.

"Thankyou," She said, on auto drive and turned to walk out of the hotel. Then the maitre d' called out to her.

"Miss, if you run you might be able to catch him. The traffic is always terrible at this time of the day." He said, and Hope turned to him with (pardon the pun) hope in her eyes.

"Really?" She asked and the maitre d' nodded, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Wolfram and Hart office. Run as fast as you can." He said and Hope smiled thankfully and took off. The maitre d' just smiled to himself and then continued his job. Another titbit about this character, he had a younger sister who looked like Hope, so maybe this was the reason he ended up softening. He'd lost his younger sister in a car crash, and when he saw Hope tearing he felt his heartstrings tug. So he just followed the pull.

Wolfram and Hart wasn't that far from the hotel and since Hope had done track in high school (that was obvious from the running all over the place before, don't you reckon? I just wanted to mention it now), she had the ability to sprint the whole way easily. And she did so. She reached the offices and charged past the reception to the elevator. The guards then followed her and she turned to face them, in fighting stance. She so did not have time for this, when the elevator door opened with a 'ding' behind her.

"Hope?" A male voice asked behind her and she turned to see Angel, a slight frown of confusion on his face.

"Ace, where's Railroad?" Hope asked and Angel swallowed. Then he spotted the guards around her and he motioned with his head for them to leave. They left, grumbling. Hope just looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"Ace?" She asked again and he looked at her, pain in his eyes. Pain of what he was about to tell her.

"Hope…" He said and Hope's stomach dropped and her elation from getting a second chance plummeted.

"No." She shook her head as if her thinking it would change it, "No. Don't say it. Please. Don't." Angel looked at her, pity in his eyes. He looked down at his hands, trying to come up with something to comfort her with, something that would make it better. He failed. So he just used a well used line.

"I'm sorry, Hope." And it wasn't the line, but the sincerity in it that made Hope finally let the tears run again. Free.

She collapsed into Angel's arms and he held her gently. Her knees gave out and Angel fell to his knees with her, still holding her to him.

TBC

Aw, ain't Angel just a doll when it comes to comfort? Unfortunately the next thing he's going to do after the comforting isn't going to be giving out more comfort, and he sure isn't going to be comfortable. AngelBuffy angst coming right up! Right after the comfort, and exposition… So there may be a slight delay on that… Ahh well..

Have a good one

JB


	20. Chapter 19: The Fountain

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Pointless chapter, just picking up where I left off, with the Angel comfort. Then strengthening the foundations of Faith and Buffy's friendship. Then the sisterly bond.. I have not much more to say. Oh, Spike? Not gonna be back for a while unfortunately. Shame, I'm really gonna miss that guy.

Chapter 19: The Fountain

"I love him." Hope sobbed and Angel soothed her gently and stroked her hair.

"I know. But, it'll be ok. After a while…" Angel said, trailing off thinking about exactly how much of a 'while' he had taken to be ok after his own heartache.

"How do you know?" Hope asked into Angel's chest. Angel withdrew a bit so that he could look Hope in the eyes.

"I've had… _Experience_, in that department." Angel said and Hope's eyes widened as she remembered.

"Right, how could I forget." Hope said, hitting her forehead, disgusted with herself.

"Hope," Angel said, drawing her gaze again, "I know that right now, it feels like a part of you has been ripped out and that you couldn't live for another second but… It'll get better. I promise."

"You promise?" Hope asked looking up at him hopefully and sniffing back some tears. Angel smiled and wiped away the tears off her face with his thumb.

"I promise." He reassured her and Hope smiled. It wasn't a happy smile, or a bright one, it was a 'okay, I've just cried but maybe the future could get better' smile. In other words, a hopeful smile. Hope returned to burying her head in his chest and mumbled something that only Angel could catch with his vampiric hearing.

"Thankyou, Angel."

Faith stood in front of the huge fountain. The Trevi fountain, or something. It took her breath away. Not many people might know, but she did enjoy looking at art. Something she got from her dad. She still remembered how her father insisted on taking her and Hope to an art gallery. She couldn't even remember which one it was, but she knew that she had the most fun there as she'd had in her whole life. Her best memory from her childhood was staring up at an artwork (she couldn't remember which one, she just knew that it was the most beautiful thing she'd seen in her life).

She couldn't stop the small smile that appeared on her lips as she looked at the fountain and the sculptures on it.

"I didn't know you were an art buff." Came a female voice from behind her. Without even turning she knew who it was.

"Are you stalking me, B? Cos that's kinda illegal and all." Faith said, smirking, and still not turning.

"You would know about illegal things, now wouldn't you Faith." Buffy quipped and Faith chuckled.

"Nice one B, slightly below the belt, but you know," Faith finally turned to face Buffy, "That's the way I like it." Faith added a wiggle of her eyebrows, something that she'd stopped doing lately but she couldn't help it. Because she knew that it was what cued the trademark Buffy Summers blush and look away. Faith just grinned as it was performed live, good old predictable B.

"Faith." Buffy reprimanded her lightly which made Faith's grin widen.

"So what you up to, B? Cruisin' the city or something?" Faith asked and Buffy grimaced

"Or something." She replied and gestured vaguely to a group of teenage girls who were crowded around the gelato stand. Faith shook her head and chuckled once again, really feeling for the poor vendor who was now being overloaded with orders. Buffy's gaze moved to the fountain and she stepped forward, her breath catching in her throat.

She stood at the edge of the water and just stared. Faith turned back to the water fountain, standing next to Buffy.

"Beautiful eh?" Faith asked and looked across at Buffy who just looked shell shocked.

"I, uh, well… yeah." She stumbled for words before finally settling on just agreement. Faith nodded, understanding Buffy's lack for words. Buffy glanced over at Faith and said, "I didn't know you were into this..." Faith looked at her questioningly and Buffy expanded, "Y'know, art and stuff." Faith grimaced and chuckled lightly.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, B." Faith said and Buffy nodded.

"I'm getting that."

"You're not really stalking me are you? Cos that's kinda creepy."

"What? No, I should be asking if you're stalking me." Buffy said matter of factly and Faith let rip a short burst of laughter.

"Hey, I was here first."

"I was there before you in the cemetery." Buffy said, trying to hold up her side of the argument.

"Yeah, but you did that creepy appearing from the shadows thing that is in fashion right now with all the cool vamps." There was a slight awkward pause as they both thought of the 'cool' vamps. Faith felt slightly guilty that she had mentioned them, wishing she'd kept her mouth shut about the two vamps which had a tendency to capture and break hearts. Mainly the one of Buffy Summers. And reminding Buffy of that pain wasn't what Faith was about, at least not lately.

"Well you know me, all about the fashion." Buffy said, a half grimace on her face.

"Right, just not the good fashion." Faith said, trying to lighten the mood. It worked well, Buffy punched her lightly in the arm.

"Hey! Do not diss my fashion sense." Buffy said, defending her style and Faith just grinned at her.

"Alright, lesson learned, no more punching." Faith said and caught Buffy's eye contact and Buffy just grinned right back at her.

"Sissy." Buffy said and firmly stuck her tongue out.

"You so did not just say that." Faith said, shocked that someone would insult her like that. Then again, it was Buffy.

"Oh, I think I did." Buffy said, a self satisfied smirk on her face.

"You so did not." Faith shot back, as if trying to make out that it never happened.

"But, I so did." Buffy was having none of it, really asking for it. So Faith gave it to her.

"You better start running." Faith warned, her eyes flashing with a hidden smile crinkling the end of her eyes and Buffy just grinned and took off, every so often looking back at Faith and flashing her a smile over her shoulder. Faith just let out a mixture between a chuckle and a growl and took off after the short blonde.

The group of Potentials surrounding the street vendor now diverted their attention to the two adults who were tearing around the fountain, Buffy laughing and running and Faith hot on her heels with a shit eating grin on her face.

Then, all of a sudden, Faith stopped running and stood there. Buffy looked back over her shoulder and stopped also, tilting her head questioningly. If it hadn't been for the totally serious look on Faith's face that showed some hurt she would have come up with an insult, but the look worried her.

"Faith, are you okay?" Buffy asked but Faith didn't reply, she just held the thousand yard stare directed at no one and nowhere in particular.

"Faith?" Buffy said, louder this time than the last, but Faith still had a far off expression on her face. Buffy swallowed and felt her worry get the better of her. She walked over to Faith and touched her lightly on the arm.

"Faith." She said, this time softer than before, but this time the message got through. Faith's eyes flickered up to Buffy's and Buffy saw the pain that was in them.

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked, a crease appearing between her eyebrows as her worry increased.

"I, uh… I have to go." Faith said, barely speaking and looked as if it took all of her energy not to collapse into tears, or just a hopeless bundle, or something, in front of Buffy. The crease deepened.

"Wh…" Buffy started to ask but Faith just looked at her and she knew from that one look that 'what' wasn't the best thing to say right then so she just said, "Okay, keep in touch." Faith nodded and ran off in a different manner from earlier when she was chasing around Buffy, this was more of a desperate one. A run for answers, for peace of mind, for a reason, anything.

Faith just wanted to know why she suddenly felt like her heart had been ripped out of its cavity, stomped on and incinerated. And why there was a familiar feeling of comfort as a side dish to the heartache. She knew there was only one way that she would have these feelings, all of a sudden and with no warning, things hadn't gone as planned for Hope.

And if that had happened, there was gonna be hell to pay.

And Faith would make sure Spike would be the one paying.

That's it. Next chapter will be… Interesting… I think, depends how far I get, but I have a feeling it won't be uneventful.

Peace

JB


	21. Chapter 20: Whiskey and Scotch

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: I'm making the Wolfram and Hart office of Italy to be the same design as the early season LA branch. In this chapter the story is finally moving on, it goes all down hill from here and picks up pace as it does…

Chapter 20: Whiskey and Scotch

Faith reached the Wolfram and Hart office without any real drama. She got to the door and took the first step inside, her heart pounding to match her footstep. Swallowing hard, she swept the lobby with her gaze and found Angel and Hope kneeling on the ground in the corridor near the elevator. She quickly walked over to them, not making eye contact with the guards that sat at the desk and kept their eyes on her as she progressed across the lobby.

When she was about half way there Hope looked up, sensing her presence and they made eye contact and a message passed between them. Hope got to her feet, assisted by Angel who had noticed Faith after Hope had looked up to spot her. They stood there, looking at her as if not quite sure what to say, as if she had to know what had happened, as if she hadn't felt it. But she had. And she knew what happened as soon as she looked into Hope's eyes. She swallowed hard as she saw the pain reflected in the chocolate eyes of her twin sister.

Instead of trying to comfort her with words she just enveloped her twin in her arms and held her tightly, feeling the overwhelming need of comfort by touch, just like Hope was feeling at that moment. Well, it was really Hope's feelings, but Faith was feeling it as strongly as if they were her own feelings. She held her sister closer and whispered something in her ear that only Hope heard. Hope sniffed and nodded into her sister's shoulder. Then she replied in a louder, but at the same time barely audible, voice.

"I know." They then separated and Hope took in a deep breath before looking at Angel.

"What says you to getting out of here?" Faith asked, her eyes on Hope. Angel nodded when Faith's eyes went to him.

"I'll get the car out the front." With that he went over to the security desk in the foyer and exchanged a few words with them.

Faith stood there with Hope and watched her intently. Hope noticed this and stared back at Faith. Faith grimaced and grabbed Hope's hand in her own.

"I'm not usually one with the touching, but you need to know, you're not alone." Faith said, her face the most serious she had ever been. Hope was the one to grimace this time and she squeezed Faith's hand.

"I know, don't worry, I won't go telling Buffy about how you're a pushover." Hope teased Faith lightly and Faith scrunched up her nose.

"I am so not a pushover, you take that back." Faith insisted.

"Aww come on sis, you're a pushover and you know it." Hope retorted, the effect of Faith being there for her making her forget about her situation that had made her be so down in the first place.

"I am so not…" After a meaningful look from Hope, Faith sighed and gave in, "Maybe only to you." She grumbled and Hope flashed her a smile.

"There ya go, don't you feel so much better now that you've said the truth?"

"No." Faith replied stubbornly. Hope raised an eyebrow and Faith raised an eyebrow back at her. There was a cough and they both turned to see Angel standing there, with two eyebrows raised.

"The car's out the front, so if you two want to go…" He said and Hope frowned slightly.

"Aren't you coming with us?" She asked and Angel sighed lightly.

"No, it always gets more complicated when I get involved."

"Angel…" Hope whined slightly.

"What?" He asked, curiously.

"You said you would come and drop us off and explain everything." She said and looked at him with a disappointed look.

"I don't exactly mix well with the Scoobies. Xander always thinks I'm going to start killing them, Giles glares, Willow is uncomfortable because of everyone else's reactions, and Buffy… Well, you know." He said and Hope looked up at him with big eyes. Finally he gave in, his shoulder sagging, "Fine, I'll come. But we'll have to wait until sunset, which is in an hour or two."

To this Hope just gave him a blinding triumphant grin and said, "That's fine, I need to go get my stuff from the hotel anyways."

To this Angel nodded and walked towards the doors of the law office. Faith stood there with Hope and gave her a look.

"What?" Hope asked and Faith just kept giving her a look and then walked behind Angel. Hope jogged after Faith.

"What?" She asked again but Faith refused to answer and no matter how much Hope bugged her she wouldn't say anything.

As they left Wolfram and Hart, Angel sprinting to the car, they were unaware that two pairs of eye followed them to the car.

"Is that the One?" Asked one of them and the other nodded. "And the other?" They asked again.

"The last needed for the ceremony. One shall fall so the other will rise, one sister making the ultimate sacrifice so the other can lead us into the ultimate battle. And finally, we shall rise. It's actually all quite poetic."

"You certainly know your stuff." The first observed and the second shrugged.

"I was bored and there was nothing else around to read." The second said offhandedly and the first nodded understandingly.

"What about the assassin?" The first asked after a pause.

"George? Oh, he'll die. He's become a liability and we can't afford to let him live. He's just too immersed in the whole legend. Plus, his whole sexist thing which makes him hate the fact that it's a woman who's getting the high and mighty position."

"He's sexist?"

"Yeah, didn't you notice how willingly he murdered those slayers?"

"Ohh, right."

"Yeah."

"So.. You wanna go and get a drink?"

"Yeah, I've been craving a pina colada all day."

"'Kay, I'll get Marty and Kultrey to cover the watch." And with that a quick phone call was made and the two beings went off to a bar to have a drink.

Meanwhile…

Hope, Faith and Angel were at the hotel room and Hope excused herself, going into the bedroom and picking up the hotel phone. Taking a deep breath she dialled the number.

"Spike here, not available at the moment, so leave a message and… Aw screw this, if I'm not answering then I don't give a bullocks who the hell you are, not as if I ever check this bloody thing anyways." Then there was a beep and Hope tried not to fall apart, taking a deep breath once again before starting.

"Hi, Spike. It's me, Hope. I'm going back to the Scoobies. I mean, I had to go back there at one point or another, they still have my duffel bag o doom. That coupled with Angel's stirring speech was just too much. And I heard, that wasn't even one of his most stirring speeches. Well now we know that once someone gets all motivational, I'm at their mercy. Good thing I never went to one of those 'pyramid' schemes." Hope sighed heavily,

"But that isn't the reason I called. Well, not the only reason. I realised something, a little too late. I love you Railroad. I love the way you act like a gentleman to me when it matters most. I love the way you make me laugh. I love that look you get in your eyes when you smile. I even love your self satisfied smirk. God. I love you so much, I'm so sorry… Will. I remember the last time I called you that." Hope chuckled.

"You got so righteously pissed off." She sighed, "I'm going to now, leaving for slayer hq. I'll call la…"

"Hope! Hope, I'm here!" The only reply was a dial tone on the other end. "Idiot, idiot, idiot." He smacked himself in the head with the receiver.

Hope hung up and took a long cleansing breath, she almost thought she heard Spike, but she knew that that was not possible. She gathered herself and followed her sister, who had caught the bottom end of the conversation, out the door.

"Ready for show time?" Faith asked and Hope stuck her nose in the air.

"Bring it on."

Hope, Faith and Angel were cruising in a mini limo waiting for sunset to come and were drinking the whiskey and scotch that the Italian branch of Wolfram and Hart had kindly provided for them. Angel watched the other two get more and more drunk, stopping them before they got too tipsy, to the protests of the twins. Taking both of the glasses off them, he put them away in the cabinet of the limo.

The only reason he ever let them get this far was that he understood Hope's need to forget the reason she needed to lean on him earlier, and Faith was pretty much along for the ride. And Angel had noticed that Hope had drunk more than Faith, and understood, and almost supported her.

"Don't be such a square." Faith whined at Angel as he put away the alcohol and Hope giggled.

"Hehe, square." Hope said and continued to giggle.

"Well it's true, his shoulders are kinda hard and squarey." Faith said and patted Angel on the shoulder who just looked at both of them with a bemused look. Then he peered out the window, trying to ignore the twins in front of him that started to giggle and point out things that wouldn't be so humorous if they weren't drunk.

"Hey, look sunset, the sun has set, meaning we're going off to Scooby land." Angel said, a little over eager about it.

"Someone's a little too happy about getting rid of us." Hope sang and Angel protested at that half heartedly.

"No I-" He began, not really putting much effort into it. Faith covered her mouth in mock shock at this.

"Oh my god, you totally do."

"No I don't. I'm just worried."

"Bout what Ace?" Hope said and then hiccuped, which made herself laugh.

"The whole pending apocalypse mostly, plus I'm really getting that feeling that I left something on… Like the oven or something…"

"But… you don't own an oven." Hope said, scratching her head and then laughed uncontrollably, "Oven, hehehe."

"I know, but I've got this really bad feeling of impending doom." Angel said, showing his fear that had been building over the past few weeks to the two tipsy twins.

"Don't worry your pretty head Angel, everythin'll be fine." Faith said as Hope kept shaking with laughter.

"Pretty head, hehehe." Hope said to herself and continued laughing.

"Okay, I'll drop you guys off, give a short explanation to the Scooby on duty, and go back to Wolfram and Hart and see what I can do from there."

"What if the Scooby on duty is Buffy?" Faith asked with big eyes and Angel shrugged.

"Then the explanation will be even shorter and the pleasantries, non existent." He said matter of factly and both twins 'aww'ed.

"Pleasantries, hehehe." Hope said after awwing. The limo slowly came to a stop and the window which separated the back seats from the driver slid down.

"We're here, sir." The driver said and Angel nodded.

"Thanks, Marty." Angel said and the driver tipped his hat to him.

"No problem sir." Then Angel thought he saw him glance off to the side, where Hope and Faith were sprawled across the seats laughing to themselves about something. But he just dismissed it and opened the door and ushered the twins out. Hope walked in a vaguely straight line, depending on Faith to keep her on the pathway. Faith, who was better at holding her liquor, kept Hope in her vague straight line whilst also laughing along with her, head bent and whispering to each other.

Angel followed after them, back to his broody self, hoping and praying to the Powers that Buffy would not be the one who would answer the door. The sisters climbed onto the porch, with a little difficulty, and then rang the bell. Apparently the PTB were busy at the moment, because it was Buffy who answered the door and Angel noted the glow that seemed to surround her thanks to lights that reflected off her blonde hair.

She was slightly bewildered that Hope and Faith were on the doorstep, giggling and obviously drunk. Then she spotted Angel lurking in the background and she forgot about the twins for the time being.

"Angel?" She asked and Angel winced, it was _that_ tone. That hurt, unsure, shocked, disbelieving tone that cut right into him.

"Hi, uh, Buffy." He said and shifted uncomfortably on the spot. Hope and Faith looked at each other, and even in their slightly tipsy state, they knew tension when they felt it. They just went inside, Buffy let them pass, giving them a strange look as they did.

"Are they drunk?" Buffy asked and Angel shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Uh, yeah."

"You let them get drunk?"

"They're adults, Buffy, they can get drunk if they'd like to."

"And you let them?"

"Yes, I did Buffy, I kept an eye on them and let them make their own decisions. They have a right to do that, and I have no right to stop them."

"But still…"

"They had their reasons."

"Reasons huh?"

"Yeah, reasons."

"You gonna tell me, or am I going to have to guess?"

"It's their business not mine, if they want to tell you they will. It's not my place."

There was silence as they both stood there uncertainly. Then Buffy tried to make conversation, even though ever part of her body language showed that she really didn't want to make conversation. But of course, curiosity got the best of her.

"So… Why are you here?" She asked and Angel finally let some of the tension leave his body, a simple question for once.

"I was escorting Hope and Faith back."

"No, I mean in Rome." Ok, not such a simple question anymore.

"I wanted to visit Rome again." Angel said and prayed that she didn't ask why.

"Why?" No luck for Angel today.

"Business." He said, his entire body tensing up, knowing what was about to happen.

"Right, of course. Wolfram and Hart." Buffy said, with disappointment clear in her voice.

"Buffy, I…"

"Don't. I don't even know who you are anymore." Buffy said, her lip curling slightly at Angel and he took a victim stance, shoulders hunched and eyes dropped to the ground.

"I'm sorry. But there are some things that you don't know about that made me make this decision. I'm not selling out." He raised his eyes to Buffy's and made sure that she knew that he meant the last sentence. But it didn't really reach through well.

"No you're betraying me and everything that we both stand for. You're not fighting evil, you are evil." Buffy said, her eyes blazing and then she promptly turned on her heel and slammed the door in Angel's face. Angel stood there in shock, her words cut deep and he had lost his motor skills for the time being.

He stood on the porch for a few more moments, really feeling the loneliness that was magnified by the previous happenings. It was a feeling he knew well, but it never stopped hurting. This was the feeling of being completely alone.

"Harsh."

Ok, not completely alone. He looked into the shadows next to the porch where it had originated.

"Faith." He said, detecting a whiff of Faith scent. Plus a big stench of alcohol, and considering Buffy's opposition to the substance, Faith and Hope would be the only ones with any slight stench of alcohol on them.

"Spot on soul boy."

"You saw that." Angel stated and Faith nodded as she stepped out of the shadows.

"Feeling the coldness of that exchange sobered me up quite a bit. I mean, I thought you two were gonna get to blows there for a second."

"Might've been better that way." Angel muttered under his breath.

"Hey, you got me, right?" Faith asked, stepping forward with her arms open, "Plus Hope."

"Where is she?"

"Inside, dozing some of the alcohol off." Faith said, getting out a cigarette and a Zippo, "So this is the only time I can smoke. That girl can lay it on thick, seriously, the only time I'm safe is when she's drunk herself unconscious." She lit the cigarette and took a drag. Angel looked at her glumly before offering her a half smile.

"I better go back to headquarters and try and get the situation vaguely under control."

"You can get you and Buffy under control at Wolfram and Hart?" Faith asked, lost of a second.

"What?" Angel looked at her in shock and then quickly corrected her, "No. I mean, the apocalypse." He explained.

"Ohhh. Gee, sorry Angel." Faith said, wincing at her mistake but Angel waved it off.

"It's okay, I should go." Then he looked back at the front door, "Can you-?"

"Argue with her for your honour?" Faith asked and Angel gave her a look

"Apologise." He said and Faith rolled her eyes and took in a drag.

"That is nowhere near as interesting." Faith said and Angel gave her another look. She offered him a cheeky smile and then he stopped giving her a look and just looked at her with a slight approval in his eyes. Then he turned away and walked off the porch and started down the path.

"Take care of your sister, Faith." He said over his shoulder before getting into the limo. Faith waved to the limo before it left and sat on the front steps of the porch, taking a long drag from her cigarette. There was a rustle from the bushes that she had just been in and she stood up quickly and stared at them. A man stumbled out of them and looked at Faith. Faith just raised her eyebrow at him as he brushed leaves and branches off of himself.

"Are you Faith?" He asked and Faith frowned.

"Who's asking?" She asked back and he nodded, apparently that was enough of an answer to make sure that it was her. Then he took out a tranq gun, quite calmly and shot Faith before she could move fast enough to stop him. She dropped to the floor slowly, her eyes rolling upwards, while the man looked on.

"I'm Kultrey, nice to meet you." Then he bent down and picked up Faith easily, swinging her over his shoulder.

Hope ya had fun reading, I'll be back with another chapter as soon as possible…

JB


	22. Chapter 21: Mirror Mirror On The Floor

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: On the final stretch of this story. Trying to build it up and answer some things in this chapter. Have fun reading! And remember to review! Hehe…

Chapter 21: Mirror, Mirror On The Floor…

Faith woke up slowly and groggily. Her head pounded painfully and she gripped it and groaned. Then she took in her surroundings. They were your typical prison surroundings, dirty, dank and very little light. She got to her feet slowly and went up to the bars, holding them and testing the strength of them experimentally. Of course, the old looking, slightly rusted metal didn't give. Trust her kidnappers to use weak looking bars that were actually strong enough to deter a slayer.

So they knew what they were doing, that was just great. Wonderful. And so on. Faith looked into the darkness glumly and started to pace the 2 by 4 cell, feeling the whole animal in a cage vibe.

"Bored?" She heard and her head snapped up to the outside of her cell where the voice originated. A man stepped out of the darkness and sneered at her. She just glared at him. He had the type of face that you'd forget if you saw him in a crowd. Typical John Smith-ian vibe, brown hair, brown eyes, clean shaven face, and a long black trench coat.

"I'm George." He said and stuck out his hand, just in reach of Faith's cell. She ignored him and just narrowed her eyes at him.

"Wow, I'm just meeting a whole bunch of new people nowadays." She said cynically. He smirked at her and withdrew his hand.

"You women are always such…" He trailed off, his hands and jaw clenching and unclenching.

"Superior beings?" Faith offered and he glared at her.

"Women, was the word I was looking for. None of you are different, even though you might say you are. All the same, you're all the same."

"Ok, buddy? Sounds like you've got some screws loose." Faith said and George sneered at her again.

"Same as every other woman, think you know it all, but you don't Faith. You don't know everything."

"I know some things. I know that you're probably the psycho who killed all those slayers, the one who's behind the whole super vampire prophecy apocalypse deal, and that I'm the last one who you've chosen to die. One thing's bugging me but, why not just drain me like the rest of the girls? Why take the trouble to capture me and all that? Well, get someone else to capture me anyways."

"Hmm, you don't know quite as much as you think. Common female mistake. Thing is, Faith, I'm not the only one behind the, how did you put it? 'Super vampire prophecy apocalypse deal'? Yes, that, not just me actually. There are many, many more who believe in this."

"Sure, I bet you have a whole lot of other vampires who believe in this whole super vampire business thing working for you."

"Actually, Faith, it's not only vampires that believe in the super vampire. I, for instance, am not a vampire." He said and sneered at her.

"You're not a vampire?" Faith asked and then her look turned from shock to disgust. "You're even more psychotic than I thought, you killed all those girls and you're _human_. You sicken me."

"Why? I mean, I'm sorry Faith, but I don't see why it should disturb you so much. After all, you did kill some people yourself. If anything, I'd expect you to understand. Not that I would really be worried by it at all, you are just a female after all. You know, I never understood why slayers were female. Why entrust such a job on such a hopeless race? Then I finally got it, it doesn't matter. Slayers, the fight between good and evil, none of it matters. Because in the end, this is going to go ahead, and all that will be left in this world, will be evil."

"Wow, you really enjoy going on. So is this how you're going to kill me? Bore me to death with your pathetic, psychotic whingeing? Well, I gotta say, it's working. Sorry to tell you, _George_, but I'm not interested in your ideas of what's right and wrong, or what the future's gonna be like. Because you're not gonna get the chance to feed me to some Joe Blow who thinks being the ultimate evil will be something to do in the after hours." Faith said, her eyes cold. But to this George only laughed.

"Joe Blow, hmm? Well, first off, unfortunately, it is a woman. Despite my extremely vocal protestations, it was insisted that it be a certain person. I agree that she may fit the job description, but still…"

"Once again, females top males in the superiority competition." Faith quipped and George grimaced at her.

"Now might not be a time for you to be so cocky, Faith." George tutted her and shook his finger at her through the bars.

"How so, George?" Faith asked, cocking her head with a less than genuine air to it.

"Well, you know this 'Joe Blow'. In fact, you know her almost as well as you know yourself." He said, eyes glittering maliciously and Faith eyes widened as she realised who he was talking about.

"No…" She whispered, barely loud enough to be audible.

"Oh yes. Its your very own sister, Hope. Now you might understand why you're still alive. It's so much more interesting when you see the anguish brought about by the fact that one sister knows that she's about to die, and the other knows she's the cause of it. Quite entertaining, if I do say so myself."

"You're lying! You have to be! You psychotic son of a-" Faith launched herself at the bars and tried to grab at George but was just short. George looked down at the arm that was waving around, an inch away from his neck and snorted a laugh.

"You shouldn't strain yourself Faith, not good for the heart." He said and laughed shortly at his own joke. Faith stood there, struggling to gain control but when she did she decided to go back to the satirical side of things. Hurting would come later.

"Gee, is that concern Georgie Porgie?" Faith spat at him and he just leered at her.

"I just don't want you to drop before your sister gets to see your dying moments."

"Oh totally, I mean why die without mentally scarring someone in the process?" Faith drawled, sarcasm laced through her tone.

"Sarcasm never helped anyone, Faith."

"No, but it's a great security blanket on those late cold nights in my matchbox prison cell." There was a loud beeping that interrupted the death glares that were being traded through the bars of the prison cell. George looked down at his pager and sighed heavily.

"I must go, I'll see you at the ceremony tonight."

"Sure thing, Doctor X." Faith said and then a thought crossed her mind as she stuck her hand between the bars, offering her hand as George had earlier. George regarded her and then smiled and took it. Then Faith pulled him to the bars of the cell and held him there firmly. He attempted to move, but Faith was a slayer after all, and he couldn't budge. Faith looked him in the eye as he looked back at her, his wide eyes showing fear.

"You are one sick human being, and if you ever try and get within a hundred feet of Hope I will…"

A shot rang out and George's fearful expression froze and he fell to the floor, Faith's one handed strength not enough to hold up the assassin. She quickly stepped away from the body, and deeper into her cell, and stared down at the body. Then she looked up as another figure stepped out of the shadows.

"He does love to go on doesn't he?" Asked the female who was looking down at the body of the former assassin.

"Who're you?" Faith asked and the woman looked up at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Margot."

"You here to save or gloat?" Faith asked, studying Margot from a safe distance in her cell, keeping a wary eye on the hand that held the gun.

"Neither actually, I'm here to give you this." Margot said and slipped a mirror through the bars of the cell. Faith took it from her and looked into it, she saw a reflection of herself stare back at her and looked up at Margot, puzzled.

"I don't know what you heard, Margot, but I'm not really a mirror chick." Faith said, gesturing to the frameless mirror that Margot had handed to her.

"Well, since your sisters a psychic and all…" Margot hinted casually, trying to get Faith to see her point but Faith was too wrapped up in what she'd said rather than the way she'd said it.

"What?" Faith asked, in shock, her eyebrows rising up.

"A psychic. Didn't you know?" Margot asked, her own eyebrows rising.

"No, she's not a psychic, she's a slayer." Faith said, her mind not being able to work properly, stumped by the whole psychic idea.

"Really? Is that what you really think Faith? All those little moments that you knew something was just… off. Why do you think you could share feelings and thoughts so clearly? Its not just a sisterly bond, its her ability." Margot said and Faith's decisiveness wavered. It was true, there were times when the thought that her sister was a slayer was so absurd to her, and other moments when it seemed impossible for it. And then there was the scarily true predictions that her sister seemed to be in a habit of making.

"What about the strength then? And the fact that she got a watcher?"

"She's a psychic, she was channeling your strength through herself, and the watcher? Well, the group of old men in England trying to control young girls weren't always that good at their jobs. They make mistakes, and Hope seemed like a sure bet for a slayer."

"Why are you telling me this? I mean, why are you helping me? Aren't you like my prison keeper or something?"

"Well yeah, but I'm trying not to be the bad guy here."

"So what's the deal? I talk to my sister, tell her where I am, she comes and then you get your 'ultimate evil' on a stick?" Faith asked and Margot shook her head.

"I'm doing this so you can warn her against it."

"So, since you're in the giving mood, how about letting me out of the cell?" Faith suggested and Margot scoffed.

"I may not want this to go down, but I don't want to die. And if I happen to help you get out, then that's pretty much guaranteed." She said and Faith nodded slowly.

"Right, I get the aim of the game now. Help the prisoner but don't get your hands dirty."

"Hey, I don't want this whole 'ultimate evil' thing to come to terms, okay? So I'm doing everything I can to make sure it doesn't. But you have to keep up your end of the deal as well."

"What deal?" Faith asked exasperatedly.

"Look, I'm handing this to you on a platter. Take it. Tell your sister what's going down and then get that whole army that I know you have stowed away somewhere to come and bring this place down."

"I don't even know where 'this place' is."

"No, but Hope probably will. Keep the connection strong and she'll be able to track you." Margot explained and Faith snorted.

"Like my very own hunting dog." She said, leering at Margot.

"Just do it, Faith. We don't have much time." Margot said and Faith rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, scratching at her tattoo.

"We? There's a 'we' now?" She asked, scratching at the tattoo and Margot raised an eyebrow at her and Faith stopped scratching.

"Will you stop being so difficult already? I'm trying to help you here." Margot said, a little harshly and Faith went on the defensive.

"And you'll excuse me for being suspicious. Kinda hard to trust someone from the inside of a jail cell. Not to mention you're carrying a gun."

"Since when has a young woman carrying a gun worried you Faith? This whole jail experience really has gotten to you." Margot tutted her and Faith grimaced at the 'gun' pass.

"Funny that, I hear everyone else gets so cute and cuddly during them. I just don't know what is wrong with me." Faith retorted sarcastically and it was Margot's turn to grimace.

"Just do it. Okay? I just want this whole thing to end. Soon." Margot said and walked away leaving Faith in her cell, holding a mirror, with George's dead body mere feet away. Faith looked at the body and swallowed hard before turning to the wall and moving as far away as possible from it.

"Not my fault. Not my fault. Not my fault…" She chanted under her breath and tried to calm herself. Then she looked down into the mirror and saw herself reflected back. Her hair was awry, her eyes had a crazy glint in them and she looked dead tired. She looked at it for a few more seconds and then gave up.

"God, what is this? Some Lion King deal? Look into the reflection deep enough and you shall see your relation? Can't believe I'm even trying this." She rolled her eyes and looked into the mirror again, eyes searching deep.

"Where are you Hope? You out there somewhere? Hiding in the shadows or something?" Faith sighed at the completely non responsive mirror, "Fine, don't respond. Can't believe I ever considered that whole 'psychic' bullshit."

Then there was a flicker in the mirror and Faith's eyes went back to it as they widened slightly.

"Hope?" She asked and looked into the mirror, closer than before.

She was so engrossed in the mirror that she hadn't noticed that she had been stepping backwards, to try and get some more light onto it. She had moved so far back that she was now almost touching the bars of the cell, and was inches away from the body now. So when George used his last ounce of life left in him to grab her ankle she got so shocked that the mirror tumbled from her hands to the floor.

It shattered into many pieces and as Faith stared down at the pieces she saw the small figure of Hope running away until she was only a spot on the mirror...

Hope woke up with a shock and sat up suddenly on the couch and wiped away some of the sweat that had built up on her forehead. She tried to calm down her breathing and pulse, to no avail. Whilst her heart pounded like a sledgehammer in her chest she tried to figure out what was going on.

Faith picked up the shard of mirror that had fallen onto the floor and stared into it.

"Hope? Hope please, I need to talk to you. Please, Hope just…"

Hope felt Faith calling her. She didn't know how or why but she just knew that she needed to get to a mirror pronto. Maybe it had something to do with what she'd seen. Or maybe it was to know whether or not she had something crazy going on with her hair. Despite what she had seen, she deeply doubted the fact that it was halfway true. Probably another dream. But she still couldn't quash the feeling. I mean, look how the other dream turned out, all of them being true.

So she just tried to quieten the voice in her head that called her crazy and went over to the mirror and stared at the reflection of herself. She looked into her own eyes and tried to find something in them. Anything. And then they changed.

Faith almost dropped the mirror again as she saw Hope's eyes look back at her.

"Hope…" She whispered and smiled as she saw her sister look back at her, shocked.

"Hope…" Her reflection said. Well, not really her reflection since it wasn't her looking in the mirror. It was Faith. Someone who she had been mistaken for a few times, very few times, but still. Her reflection smiled and she nervously smiled back at it.

"Faith? Is that you?" She asked and the mirror nodded vigorously. Her eyes widened as she realised something life changing.

"It was all true…" She whispered to herself, barely audible, but Faith caught it.

"What was true?" She asked, her eyebrows knitting together. Then she caught on and her eyebrows went up her forehead, "You saw what happened?"

"I.. Yeah. That man, George, the assassin, and then the lady, Margot, who said I'm a…" Hope started and then she trailed off and her gaze drifted downwards at the discovery of the information which would change everything for her. And for everyone around her.

"Psychic?" Faith finished questioningly and Hope nodded.

"Yeah. Psychic." Hope repeated, bitterly.

"So you know about the…?"

"Ultimate evil deal? Yeah. I do. I don't know which I hate more, the psychic thing, the non slayer thing or the fact that I'm gonna bring about the apocalypse." Hope said and gave Faith a look at the end of her mini rant.

"Personally, I'd hate the non slayer thing. I just gotta have control ya know?" Faith joked and Hope rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious Faith, this is the only thing that links me to you, to this place, to Buffy. If there's nothing linking us, do you really think she's gonna keep me on? I mean, what if she kicks me out cos I'm not in her little exclusive group?"

"She's not going to do that, Hope."

"Why not? Cos she's such a great friend with you?"

"Hope…"

"God, everything's falling apart right now. I find out the one thing I've believed my whole life is wrong, my only living relative, my only decent relative, my only best friend, the person I love and trust the most in my life is captured by a cult who thinks I'm the 'ultimate evil'. The first boyfriend I've had since… ever thinks I hate him, even though I'm crazy in love with him, and won't talk to me since he's on another continent. The one guy I can count on is at some evil law firm trying to stop me from bringing about the apocalypse. Since _I'm_ the ultimate evil. And suddenly I'm some psychic with the power to leech strength from the people around me. Oh, and that little fact won't get me any love from the people around here either."

"Hey, hey, hey. Hope, c'mon, cool your jets for a second little sis. Everything's going to be okay, I promise. Okay? This is me making a promise, the person you love and trust the most in your life, is making you a promise." Faith said, trying to be comforting from the other end of the mirror.

"You promise?" Hope asked and Faith nodded and smiled genuinely at her.

"I promise." Faith said and Hope smiled into the mirror.

"Good. Now I better go and save your ass." Hope said a mischievous glint in her eyes but Faith reacted differently than she'd quite expected.

"No!" Faith said, her eyes showing her panic.

"How's that now?" Hope asked, on the defence against her sister who suddenly went all kinds of rabid.

"You heard her! If you come here, and they capture you, then it's all over. It can't be risked." Faith said, the voice of reason, for once. But Hope didn't accept it.

"Since when have you cared about the risk, Faith?"

"Since you're the one who's doing the risking." Faith replied, throwing it straight back at her.

"How are the Scoobies gonna find you then? They need me to put you on the radar." Hope said, cocky about the fact that she knew that she had Faith in a corner now but Faith would have none of it.

"Okay, you point them in the direction and then you get out of there." Faith insisted and Hope's shoulders sagged down as her sister kept on being overly protective. Then again, she couldn't be blamed for it, considering what would go ahead if she wasn't.

"And if something goes wrong?" Hope asked, confessing her deepest fear and Faith swallowed hard at this, she knew the weight of the question. And also the fact that it was Hope's greatest fear by the way that Hope looked at her as she asked it.

"You get out of there, whether something goes wrong or not." Faith said, her eyes full of certainty. There was no room for doubt in her mind, and she showed that fully.

"I'm not going to let you die in there because of me." Hope said, pushing back the lump that had crept up in her throat.

"I'm not going to let you die because of me. I don't want to be the reason that there's an apocalypse. And I know that you don't either."

To this Hope was silent and Faith gave her a small sad smile.

"Everything's going to be fine. I make a promise, and I deliver. Trust me."

"I do." Hope said and then continued under her breath, "That's the problem."

Gonna cut it off there, be back soon with last few chapters…


	23. Chapter 22: Sticky Situation

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope. But sometimes, I feel like I own more. Then again, it's not like I know anything much so I wouldn't trust me if I was you.

Author Notes: Sorry about the uber long break. But I'm back, strangely enough I find it easy to write in the middle of my half yearly exams. Strange how that works... Anyways, enjoy! And review!

Chapter 22: Sticky Situation

Buffy walked into the hallway that not many potentials ventured. Something about the creepiness of it, or something like that. But, surprisingly, she didn't find it as deserted as usual. This time she found Hope standing there, staring into the mirror.

"Never figured you as much of a mirror chick." Buffy said, smiling lightly at her but it dropped quickly when she saw the expression on Hope's face.

"Hope?" She asked, concerned, "Is everything oka…?"

"They took her." Hope said, emotionlessly. And then she looked at Buffy in the eye and seemed to finally wake up. She shook herself subconsciously and then looked at Buffy again, this time with more life in her. More anger in her.

"Who?" Buffy asked and Hope started moving suddenly, taking long strides back to her bedroom where her duffel bag was stored and started taking out various weapons. Mostly guns, of course. She sat on the bed as she went through these and Buffy joined her, studying her aggressive movements.

"The bunch of crazies who believe that I'm the ultimate evil." Hope said and continued to take out guns and loaded ammo into them.

"Who now?" Buffy asked, completely in shock and awe as to what was just revealed to her.

"Angel didn't tell you?" Hope asked and glanced up at her before returning to her gun, noticing the expression that had come onto Buffy's face. She clicked the clip into place and got to explaining the situation to Buffy, "Long story short, there's this cult group of demons, vampires and humans who believe in this prophecy. The prophecy says basically that if someone is drained by a vamp and then turned by the Pope's blood and a whole bunch of slayer's blood then the person will be the ultimate evil, controlling all evil in the world and will bring about the apocalypse. They believe that I'm the person. And they're using Faith as the last slayer who has to donate blood to the cause."

"And that's the short story?" Buffy asked and Hope nodded before snapping back the slide of the gun in her hands.

"Plus, instead of me being a slayer. I'm apparently a psychic." Hope said, explaining in a monotone. Buffy just blinked, obviously the amount of information which Hope had given her was a little too much for her to absorb at once.

"So what're you going to do?" Buffy asked, blinking at regular intervals, really feeling the need to moisten her eyes at this point in time. Maybe it was the incessant staring she'd done during the explanation earlier.

"Save her." Hope said and her eyes didn't show any emotion as she loaded up her leather duster with various guns and paraphernalia. She stood up and smoothed her jacket out.

"Need help?" Buffy asked and Hope froze and looked down at her. For the first time emotion entered her eyes and it was sadness. And remembrance. This was what Faith wanted, this is what Faith insisted was going to happen. And who was Hope to go against her twin's wishes. Hope nodded to Buffy and went into leader mode.

"Round up the troops, this is going to take a full frontal assault. And if we win this, maybe the world won't be threatened for at least another few days." Hope said and the ghost of a smile flickered across her eyes and lingered on her mouth for a second longer.

"So this needs the whole army?" Buffy asked, her eyebrows knotting together and Hope nodded.

"They're not a small cult. They're big. And public. They'll have plenty of security." Hope said and she saw Buffy hesitate and she touched her lightly on the shoulder, making her look up at Hope. Hope continued, trying to make sure Buffy understood full well what she was trying to put across.

"This isn't only about saving my sister, even though I would go through hell to do that, this is also about saving the world. Something you're pretty familiar with, but don't treat this like something you do everyday, even though you basically do. If something goes wrong, Faith is going to die, because of me and then evil will win, also because of me. And I don't want this to happen. And nothing will be able to be done about it then, cause I'm going to be a soulless son of a bitch with no thoughts except of obliterating everything in existence."

"Okay… So we're trying to make this not happen?" Buffy asked, trying to ask it light heartedly and Hope nodded, her eyes drooping with obvious tiredness. It was hard to keep up the façade that she was keeping up.

"Not everyone is going to get out of this alive, I want you to know that. This isn't some simple recon mission, this is going to be an all out war. Whether or not we do it now or later, it's just that if we do it now we have a chance of winning. If we wait any longer, there will be no hope left." Hope said, punning but her face showed that she didn't want a laugh or even cared about it. This was the business end of the deal, and she had to nail the clincher. Punning be damned.

"Okay, let's go get everyone rounded up." Buffy said, ignoring the pun Hope made, mostly because she didn't enjoy getting death stared.

Some time later...

Hope stared up at the night sky and breathed deep the air of Rome. A wind whipped up around her and she pulled her leather duster closer around her. She stared at the full moon and shivered slightly as another wind whipped up the side of the building and ran up from her toes that were stepping the edge of the building to her hair that was thrown into chaos by the wind. Tucking a rogue strand behind her ear she closed her eyes and lost herself in the sheer feeling of standing on the edge.

It was like being halfway between life and death, one inch forward and she would plunge to her death and one inch back and she would be safe as houses. Not that houses were all that safe, she never really did get that saying…

She felt someone step in behind her and a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist. She leaned back into the touch and they held her closer as she did.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here earlier." The person behind her spoke, his British accent lilting his voice and Hope smiled genuinely for the first time in a long time.

"It's okay." She replied, "You're here now, and that's all that matters."

Spike planted a kiss on the crown of her head and held her closer to him. On a whim Hope suddenly turned in his arms and looked into his eyes for a moment, as if she was searching for something in them. Then, looking as if she'd found what she'd been looking for she leaned in and kissed him softly. It was a chaste kiss, more of a gentle whisper of a kiss, different than their usual and she pulled back ever so slowly, so that their lips still ghosted over each others.

"I love you." She whispered so quietly that he felt it, as her lips brushed against his, more than he heard it. Then he pulled back and looked into her eyes and tucked the rogue strand of hair that had managed to escape once more, behind her ear.

"I love you too, pet." He said and bent down to kiss her but she pulled away.

"It-this, scares me." She said, looking up at Spike with wide eyes. "My experience with love hasn't exactly been the best. Sometimes, I love you so much that my heart feels like its going to burst, and other times I'm so scared, of hurting you, of being hurt myself."

"I would never hurt you, pet. I'd rather die than hurt you." He said seriously.

"That could happen too." Hope said and laughed humourlessly. She looked down at her shoes, "Right now, things are bad. Faith is captured, everything I've believed in my life is a lie, and I find out that I could destroy the world… I just, I don't know if I could take one more thing without experiencing some sort of implosion." Spike lifted her chin up gently and looked her in the eye.

"You got nothing to worry about, pet. Nothing at all." With that he hugged her too him and they both closed their eyes, relishing being in each other's arms.

"I hope you're right." She whispered into his chest and they stayed like that for a few more moments until Spike's eyes opened suddenly as he realised something.

"Wait a second, 'destroy the world'?" He asked and Hope's eyes opened. Oops.

Meanwhile...

Angel sat on the floor of the office, forgoing the gaily decorated furniture of the room, he was surrounded by papers and books. Next to him was the phone, on speaker mode, and every so often he'd talk and then move around, looking for something, skim over it quickly, and then talk into the phone again. The Italian CEO watched him from outside her office, tapping her well manicured nail on the bench of her receptionist's desk.

Up to now she had been extremely accommodating, but the large American was beginning to overstay his welcome in her office. She raised a freshly waxed eyebrow as she saw him drop the paper he'd been holding, and pace angrily from one end of her office to the other. She decided that it was the time to go and try and convince him to leave her office, maybe to go sightseeing or something of the sort. She really did just want her office back.

Smoothing over her stylish Italian designer jacket she walked into her office. He looked up at her as she entered and something looked like it clicked in his eyes. He walked over to the table where he'd hung his coat and picked it up, and put it on.

"Listen, I have to go, something came up. But thanks for the office, it helped." Angel said and gave her a half grimace and walked out. The Italian CEO was left standing there with a confused expression, which turned into a triumphant expression as she realised that she was rid of the American. Then she looked down at the pieces of paper which decorated her floor and saw what was written on it most of the colour went out of her face.

She muttered an Italian swear word under her breath as she bent down and picked up the piece of paper that had Angel's handwriting all over it and a name written in large letters that were connected to another word. Apocalypse.

Then she picked up the phone.

"It's coming earlier than we thought. Get them ready."

At this point in time Buffy and a select group of slayers were playing scouts, lead by Hope to the building which Faith was being held, and had snuck around the side and were trying to find an easy way in. The building itself looked abandoned, with every window boarded up and it looked like it really needed repair. Hope stood out the front and shivered at the look of the building and sat down on the curb.

There was a soft 'whump' sound and Hope looked up to see Spike standing in front of her. She smiled at him and he grinned at her.

"Have fun following on the rooftops?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and he smirked.

"Can't say it wasn't a rush." He replied and took a seat next to her on the curb, "Had to make sure nothing would happen. That's what tends to happen at the last second before you save the day."

"Thanks for the tip." Hope replied.

"Murphy's law." Angel said from the shadows. Hope jumped up and turned, and spotted him in the bushes next to the building. Spike didn't quite move as fast, and did more of a glance over his shoulder and a rolling of his eyes.

"Look who's turned up." Spike grumbled and Hope mock punched him in the arm which caused him to stand up and actually pay attention to the other vampire.

"Hey Ace, what's up?" Hope asked as she moved in for a hug which Angel reciprocated.

"I heard about the whole, er... Well, I found out about who they think is the, er... 'Saviour'." Angel stumbled about verbally until he finally seemed to find the words and Hope's eyes widened at this. He looked at her meaningfully, and she panicked internally.

"Oh god. How did you-?" Hope trailed off and Spike, seeing her distress, slipped an arm around her waist but she remained rigid, trying to keep her panic at bay. She couldn't afford to lose it right now.

"Wolfram and Hart. Definitely with the connections having." He replied and looked down at his shoes, as if disappointed at his ability that made him find Hope to be the ultimate evil.

"But, I mean, you know I'm not..." Hope trailed off again and Angel immediately shook his head.

"Of course not. I know that you're not evil, I would smell it on you. You're nothing but confused and," Angel paused and frowned slightly, "Scared?"

"It's Faith." Hope explained, "They captured her. And they're going to kill her." Hope said and bowed her head. Spike squeezed her side lightly and she looked up at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears in the moonlight. Angel's eyes widened at this and he launched into action mode.

"Then let's go get her." He said and went to go inside but he noticed that the other two weren't moving. He tilted his head questioningly and Hope gave him a sad shake of the head.

"No, she made me promise I wouldn't. Buffy went in with a team of her own, I just have to trust that they get to her in time..."

Meanwhile...

Faith was in what could be referred to as a 'sticky situation'. More so than usual. After being led from her cell in a blindfold and chains, she found herself chained and bolted down to a large wooden table. Which was strange considered this was a cult directed at vamps, so you'd figure that there would be a lack of wood, but Faith wasn't really in the position to mention this to them.

A person in a long cloak and hood, that hid their face, went around checking the chains and Faith went into defensive mode, the way she had to deal with what was happening at the moment.

"Were you at least planning on buying me dinner? I mean, the whole cloak and dagger thing is a bit of a turn off, but I'm sure we can work around it. Of course then there's the whole 'you wanting to kill me' thing, but hey, it's kinda kinky." Faith quipped, rattling the chains and the cloaked figure paused and Faith could almost see it shake its head.

"Jeez, don't you ever stop Faith?" She barely heard the figure mutter, if it wasn't for slayer hearing, she wouldn't have been able to. She recognized the voice and her eyes widened.

"B?" She hissed and the cloaked figure looked at her and then the hands lifted up and took the hood off. It revealed the face of the older, blonde slayer. Buffy was giving her a look, clearly because of her earlier comment and Faith let a grin slip onto her face because of this.

"C'mon get me outta these." Faith said and rattled her chains at Buffy again. Buffy nodded and went to work on the chains that held her hands down. Faith looked at her as her brow furrowed in concentration and her curiosity over came her.

"How'd you get in anyways?" She asked and Buffy shrugged.

"Knocked out a straggler and took his place." She explained as she finally got the shackle to open and Faith took her hand out of it and rubbed it with her still shackled hand. Buffy moved across and started to work on the other one and Faith decided to bring up the tope of her psychic sister.

"So I'm guessing Hope told you." Faith said and Buffy paused for a moment and looked at Faith. Something flashed in her eyes, and she wasn't quire sure of what it was but it looked like sympathy.

"Yeah, she did." Buffy started to struggle harder with the shackle that just wasn't giving up.

"Are you going to prove her right?" Faith asked and this time Buffy stopped fully and stared at her.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked and Faith shifted on the wooden table, trying to find the right words to express her twin's earlier worries.

"You aren't going to kick her out or anything are you? Just cos she isn't part of the gang anymore?" Faith asked, searching Buffy's face for an answer. What she found was anger, and hurt.

"How could you think that?" Buffy asked, halfway between a puppy dog eyes and a pout, and intense anger. Faith just shrugged and tried to keep herself from being pounded, she couldn't exactly defend herself could she?

"Can't blame me, B. Past experience tends to not be in favour of us Winters girls." Faith said, and the defence seemed to work. Well, she wasn't _as_ angry.

"Wait a second, one, you can't blame me for that. And two, Winters? I thought your name was Lehane."

"Winters was my dad's, and Lehane was my mom's, they couldn't decide which last name we would get so they gave us different ones. But, I'm thinking of changing it. My dad did more for me than my mom ever did, and my dad left so long ago that I can barely remember him. I just remember feeling safe, something I didn't ever feel again." Faith said and Buffy's eyes were wide with sympathy. Faith noticed this and shrugged it off, "How about we get me out of these cuffs?" Faith asked and raised an eyebrow and Buffy looked at her for a second and then slammed her fist down, making the shackle shatter.

"Nice shot." Faith rubbed her newly freed wrist with her other hand and grimaced at Buffy. Buffy nodded and grimaced as she rubbed her fist. A look of concentration came over Faith's face as her eyebrows knotted together and then she kicked upwards with her legs, successfully breaking the chains, but left with the shackle on her ankles. She glared at them but then when one of the slayer team came running she forgot about them momentarily.

"Jules?" Faith asked, cocking her head as she sat up on the table. The slayer offered Faith a shy grin, Faith was something of a legend around the slayer household, and some of the girls had a tendency to be shy around her.

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked, demanding the attention of her slayerette. Julie turned to Buffy and immediately adopted 'soldier' mode.

"The perimeter has been breached. They're on their way." Julie said and Buffy nodded. She shared a look with Faith and Faith sighed.

"I'm guessing we're running now?" She asked and Buffy nodded. Faith's mood suddenly changed as she grinned, "Good, I was looking to stretch my legs. Even if I am weighed down with these stupid metal things." She said gesturing to the shackles around her ankles. That was when the other three slayers appeared, running for their lives and the other three that had been standing there saw this and shared a look before joining them.

Legs pumping, Faith's chains clinking, and all six slayers puffing as they sprinted through the maze like building, trying desperately to escape from the small army that was chasing them. This army consisted of vamps, humans and a few demons. As Faith glanced behind her she wished she hadn't, sure she had some pent up need to slay some of these son-of-a-bitches who were responsible for all the crap she and her sister went through, but seeing the sheer number of them... Well she was worried, which was something she never was.

_Throw me in the hornet's nest, what the hell..._ It was different now, she had something that depended on her. Someone. And she knew how much it would kill Hope if she didn't make it, and hell, she promised her that she would. So she ignored the heavy weights on her ankles and pounded her legs harder than she ever had before. The sprinting she did in her nightmares was a walk in the park compared to this.

As her heartbeat got steadily faster she thought of Hope and her face appeared in her mind. In her mind's eye her sister was grinning at her and running ahead of her. Just a little ahead of her. She could catch her if she sped up. But she couldn't, she tried so hard but she couldn't. She just couldn't...

Then the image of what the sons-of-bitches behind her would do to Hope if they caught her sprung into her mind. And that was what gave her that little extra speed. Buffy and the others were having trouble keeping up, but Faith wasn't worried. Buffy would keep up, just for the sake of competitiveness, and the others would keep up with Buffy because she would fry them and then make them run drills if they didn't. General Buffy, ever the hard ass.

And then, the end was in sight. Well, less of an end and more of a window. Buffy and Faith looked at each other and then jumped, putting their hands in front of their faces and trying to shield themselves, though it was a little in vain, especially since they had to also break through the wood, which they tackled by a strong kick. The other four followed them through the, now broken, window.

When they got up from the ground they saw the huge army that was assembled outside and Faith's jaw dropped. Buffy grinned at this.

"Surprise." She said and then the mini army that was behind them saw the slayer army in front of them. The expressions on most of the faces clearly said 'Oh shit'.

"Well ain't this gonna be fun." Faith said, grinning at the now outnumbered cult army. Then Hope stepped next to her, followed by Angel and Spike.

"Hell yeah." Hope said, taking out her prized guns and pulling back the safeties, and the sisters grinned identically at each other and ran into battle.

AN: RAWR! Take that cult! And that! And that! Sigh, there just had to be a big fight scene, but considering how crap I am at writing them, I will have to leave that up to your imagination with another annoying time skip going into the next chapter... But it's not of so much time this time, it's just a couple of hours or so... Wonder how Rome will react to the war? If at all?


	24. Chapter 23: Gone

Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Back with a new chapter, but not so much with the happiness in this one. Brace yourself, it's going to be a rocky ride...

Chapter 23: Gone

Hope fired the gun at the vampire as he lay on the ground, wounded temporarily due to a short fight that had transpired after he'd managed to knock her gun loose. He let loose a roar as he dissolved into dust and Hope fell to her knees, so completely exhausted from the battle. She looked around and saw similar images. The left over slayers were finishing their own vampires, demons, or in some cases, humans. They were all sporting wounds of some sort, and they were all exhausted.

Hope saw Faith finish off a demon with a swift crack of its neck and she made eye contact with Hope and gave her a grin and a nod. Hope smiled back at her and then continued to survey the area.

They were exhausted. All around her the slayers, done with the battle, gave into the feeling of exhaustion and were leaning against each other, or giving in to the temptation of collapsing to the ground. It had been a gruelling battle and now it was showing.

Spike shuffled over to Hope, one arm hanging loosely at his side, and a cut above his left eye which was beginning to swell. She grimaced at him and he returned it. His not so swollen eye looked at her arm which had a cut running down it, and he reached out to it and then withdrew with an apologetic look as she winced, but she just shrugged and grimaced once again.

"We won." She said weakly and he smiled slightly at her.

"That we did, pet." Spike said and his smile was of kilt, due to the swollen eye.

Buffy stood next to Faith as they watched the mostly silent exchange between Hope and Spike.

"They look happy." Buffy said and Faith nodded as they watched Hope look up at Spike lovingly and he returned the look as he reached out slowly and traced her jaw line with his hand.

"Yeah. They are." Faith agreed and Buffy nodded, Faith turned to look at her, "Are you okay?" She asked with a head tilt.

"Well, I do have a nasty cut," Buffy said turning to Faith and gesturing to her stomach which had a deep, but not fatal, cut running across it. And then, seeing Faith's look, she added, "But about Spike, I'm fine. Andrew told me he was alive. I made my peace with it a while ago. Besides, they look like they are a way better suit than Spike and I ever were."

"You're right about that," Faith agreed and winced at Buffy's look, "What? I was agreeing! No offence or anything, but you guys were even more doomed than you and Angel ever were. And that's saying something." Faith said and Buffy hesitated before surrendering to the logic with a nod.

"Thanks Faith." Both slayers turned to see Angel standing there with a bemused expression. Faith grinned and patted him on the shoulder as she passed by him on her way out of the tension area.

"I'll catch up with you guys later." She called out over her shoulder as she ran off to join her sister and Spike, a quick escape to the most awkward situation. Buffy watched her leave and wished that she could do the same. But she couldn't and she looked back to the big hunk of tortured vampire who was standing in front of her.

"Angel." Buffy said, trying to cover up her embarrassment by being curt.

"Buffy." Angel returned, with a slight nod.

"Thanks for the help." She said and knew that the way she distinctly clipped all her words off wasn't exactly the most inviting tone, but oh well.

"You're welcome." Angel replied, his eyes softening and Buffy could almost feel like melting in them... But no, self control definitely had to be paramount. And with self control, came defensiveness. And as Buffy withdrew herself from sinking into those depths she transferred herself straight to the land of the defensive.

"Am I?" She asked as she tried to harden herself against getting hurt again.

"Of course," Angel's eyes changed to show the hurt in them as he tried to find the words to stop her defensive outburst, "I... I just wanted to apologise. For earlier. You were right, I should have taken better care of Hope and Faith. Not let them get drunk."

"No, you were right. They're adults, it's their choice. I'm sorry for how I was. I was just... Whenever I see you, it throws me. Being around you... I tend to get hurt. So, I just kinda get ultra defensive." Buffy said and felt the hot sting of pending tears at the back of her eyes. She swallowed heavily and blinked the feeling back. Angel saw this and he went into ultra sympathetic mode.

"I know, that's why I try to stay away..." He said looking down at the ground and Buffy bit the inside of her cheek. Damnit, those tears were really pissing her off and Angel wasn't making it any better by looking like a kicked puppy dog.

"You don't have to... Just... God, I don't know. If you could just be less... you?" Buffy grimaced and they looked at each other and all of a sudden the awkwardness disappeared and they chuckled at the impossible task, yet one that they knew would make it so much easier for both of them.

"I'll try." Angel promised looking into Buffy's eyes, and with that Buffy knew that despite the impossibility of it, he really _would_ try. He broke the eye contact that would have probably ended up in something not so smart, and looked around, "This was a good fight. Tiring, but hardly any casualties."

"Yeah, we have Hope and her guns to thank for that. She reminds me of Sean Connery in 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'. With the shot gun and the... other... guns." Buffy finished lamely not _quite_ finding the right words but Angel just nodded.

"She was pretty amazing." He said as he thought of the image of her running through the endless number of cult members, guns a blazing. Buffy, seeing the far off look on his face, gave him a funny look. He noticed this and asked, "What?"

"Don't tell me you're in love with her as well." She said disbelievingly. He then gave her a look in return and, seeing that this wasn't enough of an answer for her, he shook his head.

"No, I'm not. She's like a younger sister to me." His eyes shifted over to where Faith and Hope, with Spike by her side, were standing and added, "They both are."

Buffy followed Angel's gaze to the happy trio who looked exhausted, beaten up, but also joyful. Watching Hope laughing at Spike's obviously rude joke made her realise that she could never take away what the two of them had together. Even if she did want to. Which she really didn't.

Buffy looked back at Angel and saw the paternal look on his face, and she couldn't help how her heart swelled in her chest. He felt her gaze and turned to her, with a questioning head tilt. She just smiled at him in return and took a chance, slipping her hand in his. He looked down at their interlocked fingers, and then back up at her with a slightly confused look. She just shook her head and smiled up at him. This melted his insides and a ghost of a smile passed over his lips, staying in his eyes, something extremely rare. She squeezed his hand and he squeezed gently back.

Suddenly those fuzzy feelings swept over Buffy and everything else was forgotten as she looked into his deep chocolate eyes. Eyes that could contain such pain and hurt, eyes that were now filled with love. Love for her. And she felt like the luckiest girl in the world to have that love. God, she was so the crushing school girl.

Meanwhile Angel felt similarly. Despite his complete lack of body temperature, he felt like he was going to burst into flames because he was on such a high, and his non beating heart felt like it was about to burst right out of his chest. His hand quickly warmed to Buffy's own temperature and he felt the warmth travel all the way to his heart, which warmed instantly, shedding the ice which had encased it in so long.

They were both so involved in their own worlds that they didn't notice the sound of an arrow leaving the bow, or the dull thud it made as it buried itself in flesh. But the scream that came soon after did bring them crashing back to reality.

The slayers, exchanging their exhaustion for the much more interesting panic, scattered every which way. Apparently when they were presented with an invisible assassin, nay, many invisible assassins, they panicked wholeheartedly. As arrows continued to fly every which way, so did the slayers, and more than one was struck down. It was complete chaos. And in the middle of it all, stood Faith, with an arrow sticking out of her shoulder. First arrow that left the bow was the one that was now sticking out of her torso. First soldier down.

The slayer who screamed first off ran around, like the rest of them, and kept screaming. Faith, however, stood there and stared at the arrow shaft buried in her shoulder in wonder. Hope did the same, only with shock and horror instead of curiosity. Spike was the first to recover and quickly supported Faith as she toppled forward, and took a sister under each arm as he dragged them both to shelter. Laying Faith down against the opposite side of the concrete stairs that went up to the building, he then put Hope down next to her and whispered something to her before running back out to try and steer the slayers out of the open, along with the help of Buffy and Angel, and into the shelter of the trees and side of the house.

When all the slayers were safely away he turned back to where he'd left the sisters, only to have an arrow buried into him with a sharp 'phwip'. He made eye contact with Hope and her eyes widened as she saw everything go by in slow motion. He looked down at the arrow and then looked back at her, his eyes showing that the arrow had hit its mark.

"I love you." He whispered and then that was it.

He was gone.

Hope howled into the night with grief and pain. Anyone who heard it throughout Rome shivered and felt the pain in the voice and thanked god that they didn't experience such pain and hoped that whoever did, would be okay. Eventually.

Faith looked on, barely conscious and she felt the pain of her twin sister and a silent tear crept down her cheek but, as hard as she tried, she couldn't reach out and comfort her sister. Then Hope looked up and suddenly she changed.

Her eyes grew darker and her face lost all emotion.

"I'll be back." She said to Faith and Faith's eyes widened as she saw her twin go to a place that she never had before.

"No, no please..." Faith whispered but Hope ignored her and walked out into the, now abandoned, open area in front of the building. Arrows flew all around her, but they seemed to avoid the immediate area around Hope. She seemed to have some sort of _force field_ that kept her safe from any of the flying things. She calmly drew out her semi automatic Beretta and began to fire into the tree tops were the arrows seemed to come from.

And soon enough black clad soldiers were dropping like flies from these trees. She kept firing until there were practically no leaves on the trees and the hail of arrows had completely stopped. She then stood there, listening and watching for any sign of any more soldiers, but no signs came.

It was over.

She was done.

And with that she fell to her knees, put down her gun, and finally began to cry. At first it was softly, with the sobs silently making her body convulse, but then they became loud wails as she began to beat the ground with her fists.

"Goddamnit! Why? WHY?" She yelled to the heavens which were starting to gather dark clouds that were threatening to rain any second.

Angel ran out of the cover that they had sought to comfort Hope and he grabbed her and held her firmly to him as she sobbed into his chest.

"Why him? Why Railroad? Why not me?" She asked and Angel just rocked her gently, whispering comfortingly into her ear.

"It's okay Hope, it's going to be okay." He whispered and she sobbed into his shoulder.

"What if it isn't Ace? What if it isn't going to be okay?" She asked and looked up at him. He swallowed and wiped some of her tears away with his thumb.

"It will be. I promise." He promised and she choked back a sob.

"An awful lot of people have been promising things they can't deliver to me lately. Figured I'd have to add you to the list." Hope said, finding enough temporary comfort to joke lightly with Angel. He knew that with this humour, came the fact that Hope would start to close up. And he knew that he would now start losing her, and if he did, he wouldn't be able to help her.

"Lots of people do." Angel said as he gave her a sympathetic look. Hope shook her head and blinked back tears.

"He meant so much to me Ace, he was the first person I've been in love with for a long time. The first person..." Hope's voice became overcome with tears and she found it impossible to keep speaking. She buried herself into his chest and he stroked her hair.

"Hope, hey," He tilted her face up to him, "I know for certain that Spike felt the same way. He loved you so much, more than he'd ever loved anyone before. He would have done anything for you."

"Yeah," Hope smiled through her tears, "Damn him and his stupid urge to be a hero. Why'd I have to fall for the guy with the big heart who always thought of himself before others?"

"Because no other guy would deserve you, and you'd never fall for anyone who wouldn't deserve you." Angel reasoned and Hope grimaced.

"Figures. Okay logic man, let's get back to your heart ache, she's eyeing me up jealously something fierce." Hope said with a nod to Buffy who was giving the two of them an extremely weird look. Angel nodded and helped Hope stand up and guided them over to Buffy, who was keeping an eye on Faith, and the two of them at the same time.

Hope quickly bent down over Faith, who looked up at her through hazy eyes.

"Hope..." Faith whispered, barely able to speak.

"Shh, Faith. Don't speak." Hope said but Faith insisted on continuing to try and speak.

"I'm sorry..." She wheezed out and Hope just winced and took Faith's hand in hers and squeezed.

"So am I. So am I..." She whispered back and squeezed her hand again. And this time Faith squeezed back softly.

"Is she going to be okay?" Buffy asked from a distance and Angel watched Hope and Faith.

"Not until she lets it out," Angel looked at Buffy and saw the confused look on her face and began to explain what he'd learned about the Winters' sisters, "Those two seem to be experts at bottling up, and it takes them a while to get around to dealing with things, so they bottle it up. Pretend that everything's okay, so when they do let it out it's like an explosion. It gets really bad, but then it gets better slowly, day by day, and then... It's gone."

"You seem quite the expert." Buffy observed with a raised eyebrow and Angel shrugged, with his palms up.

"Well, I've done my fair share of bottling." Angel replied and they shared a look.

"I think we both have." Buffy said and slipped her hand back into his, and felt that familiar comforting feeling come back.

"I just hope she lets it out sooner than Faith did." Angel said and shared another look with Buffy. She squeezed his hand reassuringly and he grimaced at her and they both turned to look back on the twins. Both of them concerned with Hope's transformation of her grief for Spike, to worry for her wounded double.

AN: Ah, poor Spike, and poor Hope as well, and Faith with the arrow-in-the-shoulder-ness. I be back soon with new one... Review please!


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